Kikisokemowin1: Pawatamowin in nehiyaw Legal Procedures

Abstract

This master’s thesis explores nêhiyaw (Cree) and Anishinaabe legal orders, methodologies (Indigegogy), and epistemologies, emphasizing matrilineal systems within the language as well as kinship, and dreaming as law. It centers on the concept of kikisôkêmôwin—a process of spiritual and ancestral remembrance—and uses personal narratives, ceremonies, and linguistic analysis to decolonize and disrupt colonial manifestations and frameworks. This thesis also critiques colonial structures like the Doctrine of Discovery and calls for Indigenous resurgence rooted in original laws, kinship, and matrilineal knowledge. keywords: nêhiyawêwin language and knowledge, Indigegogy methodology, Indigenous, nêhiyaw laws, anti-colonial analysis, First Nations and Indigenous brilliance, matriarchal knowledge and governance systems, epistemology, ontology.