Department of Geography and Environment, Western University, Canada.
Department of Geography and Environment, Western University, Canada.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Mar;272:113706. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113706. Epub 2021 Jan 19.
The concept of environmental repossession responds to a global movement led by Indigenous peoples to reclaim their territories and ways of life. As Indigenous wellness is intimately tied to relationships to land, processes of environmental repossession are a means to revitalize knowledge systems, identities and relationships that foster strong and healthy communities. Due to historic and ongoing forces of dispossession, the Anishinaabe community of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg has experienced limited access to Mountain Lake, a culturally and historically significant place in their ancestral territory. In the summer of 2018, the Chief and Council of Biigtigong constructed two cabins along the shores of Mountain Lake for community use and, one year later, hosted a week-long camp to bring Elders, youth and band staff together in this place. Drawing from 15 in-depth interviews with participating community members, this study documented the planning and implementation of the cabins and camp at Mountain Lake and examined the community meanings of this process. The findings suggest that the cabins and camp functioned as a local process of environmental repossession through multiple and interconnected steps to reclaim access to Mountain Lake, reintroduce the community to this place and begin remaking community relationships to this land. As Indigenous communities globally seek to reclaim their territories and rights to land, this article speaks to the tensions of this work and the structures that support its practice locally.
环境回收的概念回应了一场由原住民领导的全球运动，旨在收回他们的领土和生活方式。由于原住民的健康与土地息息相关，环境回收的过程是振兴知识体系、身份认同和关系的一种手段，这些关系有助于建立强大和健康的社区。由于历史上和持续的剥夺力量，比蒂格通·尼什纳贝格的安尼西纳贝社区（Anishinaabe community）一直无法进入他们祖传领土上具有文化和历史意义的山湖。2018 年夏天，比蒂格通的酋长和议会在山湖的岸边建造了两个小屋，供社区使用，一年后，他们举办了为期一周的营地活动，让老人、青年和工作人员在这个地方团聚。本研究通过对 15 名参与社区成员的深入访谈，记录了山湖小屋和营地的规划和实施情况，并研究了这一过程的社区意义。研究结果表明，小屋和营地通过多个相互关联的步骤，重新获得了进入山湖的机会，重新向社区介绍了这个地方，并开始重新建立社区与这片土地的关系，从而成为环境回收的一个本地过程。随着全球原住民社区寻求收回他们的领土和土地权利，本文探讨了这项工作的紧张局势以及当地支持其实践的结构。
