Remembering our Futures: Anishinaabe feminisms & temporal consent

Anishinaabe inaakinogewin, or natural law, is the foundational value system upon which Anishinaabe governance is practiced. One feature of Inaakinogewin is the “seven generation principle”, which compels us to consider how our political actions and decisions impact the future generations and their livelihoods. This is, I argue, a central feature of what Anishinaabe scholar Brenda Child describes as a political worldview that empowers femininity (2010). In this talk, I expand on the seven generation principle as “temporal consent”, the means by which Anishinaabe gimaawin (leadership) extends decision making powers to other time periods, specifically the future, in a gesture of trust in and reverence for children, femininity, and forthcoming generations. In settler colonial logic, children, femininity, and future generations are denigrated and practices of temporal consent are marginalized in favour of neoliberal capitalist economic structures; endangering children and future generations of human livelihood. In the presence of climate crisis, temporal consent is a critical principle for the livelihood of our collective futures. I will explore examples of temporal consent in Anishinaabe treaty practice, consider the impact of settler colonial misopedy (Rollo, 2016)—the denigration of childhood—on Anishinaabe principles of governance, and the urgency of temporal consent for the fate of our world’s future generations.