Stirring the Ashes

Abstract

This article draws on participant observation in a legal battle at the Quebec Superior Court in 2022, where the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) sought an injunction to halt excavation work around a hospital where Indigenous victims of medical experiments were allegedly buried. In response to a motion from the government of Quebec, the Mohawk Mothers refused to use a lawyer who would obey colonial law, arguing that it was their traditional duty as caretakers of the territory to speak for themselves and for their community without legal representation. This article examines their fight for self-determination through their specific understanding of the relationship between individual autonomy and social responsibility, notably by way of the Kanien’kehá:ka’s use of a single word to denote assemblies, fires, and families: Kahwá:tsire’. To reach a consensus, when it seems that everyone has come to an agreement, the Kanien’kehá:ka council must “stir the ashes” and ask everyone who has not spoken yet to voice their opinion and bring their unique perspective in the balance. As a result of this method, the author suggests that the Kanien’kehá:ka simultaneously take on the roles of legislators, executors, and judges all at once.

Keywords

• Iroquois
• Mohawk Mothers
• legal anthropology
• Indigenous assemblies
• Indigenous anthropology