Minobimaadiziwin: Perceiving the good life through Anishinaabe language

The Indigenous experience of colonization in the Americas presents a significant loss of cultural information. This study seeks to contribute to the decolonization of Anishinaabeg people in an overall effort toward healing. Following the advice of the Seven Fires Prophecies, this research is a manifestation of a youth seeking out the knowledge of Anishinaabeg Elders in order to find the path which leads to the Eighth and final fire. The path sought is known in prophecy to lead to minobimaadiziwin, the Anishinaabeg concept of the good life. This study explores minobimaadiziwin as it is perceived by six respected speakers of the Anishinaabe language. This research employed a qualitative approach and engaged Anishinaabe methodologies. In-depth interviews were used to better understand the fluid process of minobimaadiziwin. Minobimaadiziwin is a living process. Its compartmentalization is beyond the capacity of any research endeavor.;Six major themes emerged that contribute to the body of written knowledge calling attention to the inherent validity of Anishinaabeg ways of knowing regardless of any hierarchy of knowledge systems: Minobimaadiziwin as Relational, Natural Law, Anishinaabemowin (the Anishinaabe language), the Anishinaabe Educative Process of Minobimaadiziwin, Gifts and Helpers, and Change.