Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Anishinaabe storyteller Basil Johnston described the chronological path of life in four stages, what he called the four hills of life. The first stage, linked to the East, is infancy and early childhood, a time of preparation and listening. The second stage, linked to the South, is youth, a time of doing things. The third stage, linked to the West, is adulthood, a time of vision. The fourth stage, linked to the North, is Old Age, a time of the fulfillment of the vision and a time of sacred learning and teaching.
The twelve Michigan Anishinaabek tribal nations are in many respects ancient, pre-dating the United States by centuries or more. But the modern incarnations of those ancient tribal nations are only a few decades old. After all, Congress did not adopt and enable tribal self-determination policies until the 1970s. Michigan tribal nations are still in childhood, perhaps still infants. Most Michigan tribal constitutions are documents all but dictated to the tribes by the United States because of a federal law that grants approval power of new tribal constitutions to the Secretary of the Interior. As a consequence of self-determination practices that require tribal governments to meet federal standards, Michigan tribal governments are essentially federal government contractors, spending federal money under federal rules. As a result of being asked to follow federal rules, Michigan tribal governments have heavily borrowed state and federal laws to build their codes. They also borrowed state and federal models to build their justice systems. And the work is ongoing.
Critically, the federal government also coerced most Michigan tribal governments to adopt blood quantum requirements for enrollment, expressly to keep the numbers of tribal citizens to whom the United States owes a duty of protection to a minimum. It worked, to the twisted benefit of the federal government. Contemporary tribal governments do not have to maintain those requirements, but sadly most of the Michigan Anishinaabek and their ogemaag (leaders) have embraced blood quantum, internalizing and even fetishizing blood quantum. The embrace and internalization of a colonizer's political principle like blood quantum is evidence of governmental immaturity, but there is great hope.
This essay surveys the origins and the substance of the blood quantum rules of representative Michigan Anishinaabe tribal nations. The essay then compares the modern rules to traditional Anishinaabe notions of belonging and citizenship, which are rooted in the core principles of Mino-Bimaadiziwin and the Nizhwaaswi Mishomis/Nokomis Kinoomaagewinawaan. The final part of this essay includes suggestions for moving forward, focusing on the possibility of tribal nations resetting their internal blood quantum determinations and on a recent Anishinaabe tribal court decision on enrollment matters.
Publication Information & Recommended Citation
Fletcher, Matthew. "Blood Quantum and the Auto-Colonization of the Michigan Anishinaabek." In Beyond Blood Quantum: Refusal to Disappear, edited by Hill, Norbert S. Jr., Megan Minoka Hill, and Desirae Louise Hill, 157-173. Arvada, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2025.
Comments
Reproduced with permission.Originally published as Fletcher, Matthew. "Blood Quantum and the Auto-Colonization of the Michigan Anishinaabek." In Beyond Blood Quantum: Refusal to Disappear, edited by Hill, Norbert S. Jr., Megan Minoka Hill, and Desirae Louise Hill, 157-173. Arvada, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 Norbert Hill. All rights reserved. This version is provided for personal download and use only, and not for re-use.