Mnidoo Worlding

Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning

Mnidoo, a concept derived from Ojibwe Anishinaabe philosophy, is often translated simply as ‘spirit,’ but also as “other-than-human persons.” A fuller interpretation is an energy, potency, potential and process that permeates all of existence. In phenomenology, worlding refers to human meaning-making processes of being-in-the-world as an always already ongoing relational structure. In my Anishinaabe reworking of the concept, ‘world’ itself is an active force comprised of a living interrelational potency. As such, consciousness is not simply an internal cognitive process. Instead, I consider consciousness as something that emerges as a kind of possession by what is ‘outside’ of the conventionally understood reality of an individualized ‘self.’ Singular beings infused with and formed by the surrounding mnidoo world. A central stream of Manning’s work contributes to the resurgence of Indigenous scholarship by offering a close, detailed analysis of the relational ontology that underpins Anishinaabe thought.

Manning, Dolleen Tisawii’ashii. “The Murmuration of Birds: An Ojibwe Ontology of Mnidoo-Worlding.” In Feminist Phenomenology Futures, Eds. Fielding and Olkowksi. Indiana University Press, 2017.