When Tribal member Barbara Wall saw a call for abstracts for chapters for an upcoming publication, she submitted her work to the editorial team. Now she is one of the authors included in Unsettling Education: Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Land.
The description for Unsettling Education, which published in July 2024, says it “tackles ‘unsettling’ as an emerging field of study that calls for settlers to follow Indigenous leadership and relationality and work toward disrupting the colonial reality through their everyday lives.”
Wall wrote chapter seven of the book, “Anishinaabeodziiwin miinwaa Gikendasswin: Anishinaabe Ways of Knowing and Being through Relationality,” and she said her chapter was one outcome of her Indigenous studies Ph.D. dissertation, It Flows from the Heart: Bodwewaadmii Anishinaabekwewag Nibi Waawiindmowin, which she completed in 2022.
Once her abstract was accepted, she began the writing process and submitted drafts, which were reviewed and revised by editors, then peer reviewed and copy edited.
“The writing process was challenging,” Wall said. “The challenge for this chapter was to keep within the word count. There’s so much I wanted to share.”
In addition, she said she always uses the Potawatomi/Anishinaabe language in her work, and including words in a way that is both meaningful and respectful can be complicated and needs explanation, which adds to the word count.
“It’s tricky to provide translations for the reader without disrupting the writing flow,” Wall said. “I also work to include what can sometimes be seen as unconventional capitalization, such as capitalizing Indigenous Knowledge or Ceremony. Anything unconventional needs to be explained.”
The book’s audience is Indigenous studies students and educators, professors and researchers.
“It’s an important book that highlights topics and themes in the disciplines of Indigenous Studies and education about Indigenous peoples. Both fields are changing rapidly in this age of truth and reconciliation,” she said. “I hope the readers will take away ‘Indigenous brilliance’ and a better understanding of the power and richness of Indigenous knowledges and ways of being. Too often the writing about Indigenous peoples is focused on our historical trauma rather than our rich, deep knowledges and our accomplishments.”
Wall has also contributed “Nokmisag: Bemnigying,” the closing chapter of the book Grandmothers and Grandmothering, as well as having written some academic journal articles. She is also working on editing an environmental sciences textbook with a colleague, as well as co-authoring multiple chapters.
“The focus of the textbook is the power of an ethical, equitable collaboration of Indigenous environmental science and mainstream or dominant science as applied to addressing current environmental issues and concerns,” she said, adding that all contributing authors are environmental practitioners and identify as Indigenous, or as women or people of color. Wall and her co-editor want to privilege and uplift Indigenous voices and the perspectives of women in this paradigm shifting work.
That project is expected to be published in March 2026.
Wall, a member of the Vieux family, lives in Ontario, Canada, and is an associate professor at Trent University, where she teaches in the Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences (IESS) program of the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies.
The mother of two and grandmother of one has in interest in Potawatomi cultural resurgence, history, and Potawatomi ceremony and language, with hobbies including birchbark quill work, caribou hair tufting, Anishnaabe foodways, canoeing, kayaking, and growing traditional foods and medicines.