Page 25 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

Language has always been changeable and adaptive. We lose words we don’t need anymore and

invent the ones we need. We don’t need a worldview of earth beings as objects anymore. That

thinking has led us to the precipice of climate chaos and mass extinction. We need a new language that

reflects the life-­‐affirming world we want. A new language, with its roots in an ancient way of thinking.

To consider whether animacy might be shared with English, I sought the wisdom of my elders. English

is a secular language, to which words are added at will. But Anishinaabe is different. Fluent speaker

and spiritual teacher Stewart King reminds us that the language is sacred, a gift to the people to care

for one another and for the Creation. It grows and adapts too, but through a careful protocol that

respects the sanctity of the language. If sharing is to happen, it has to be done right, with mutual

respect.

I was pointedly reminded that our language carries no responsibility to heal the dominant society that

systematically sought to exterminate it. At the same time, other elders have taught that “the reason

we have held on to our traditional teachings is because one day, the whole world will need them.” It’s

a complicated path to navigate.

Stewart King suggested that the proper Anishinaabe word for the beings of the living earth would be

Bemaadiziiaaki. I wanted to run through the woods and along the river saying it out loud, so grateful

that there was such a word in the world.

But I recognize that this beautiful word would not find its way easily into English to do its work of

transformation, to take the place of “it.” We need a new English word to carry the meaning offered by

the indigenous one. I wonder if that final syllable, ki, might be the key. Inspired by the concept of

animacy, and with full recognition of its roots in Bemaadiziiaaki, might a new English pronoun come

into use?

“Ki “ to signify a being of the living earth. Not “he” or “she,” but “ki.” So that when we speak of the

Sugar Maple, we say, “Oh, that beautiful tree, ki is giving us sap again this spring.” And we’ll need a

plural pronoun, too, for those earth beings. English already has the right word. Let’s make that new

27