Ideas Following the wisdom of water to remake an unravelling world
Feb 5, 2026
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Nishnaabeg scholar, musician and writer, draws on Indigenous knowledge and the wisdom of water. She speaks about listening to water and music, the Great Lakes as kin and map, snow and centering as communal practice, colonial impacts on waterways, grief and resilience, and world-making as collective care and intergenerational responsibility.
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Great Lakes As Family
- The Great Lakes are framed as an ancestral "family" that filters and connects freshwater across the planet.
- Simpson locates personal and cultural identity within these interconnected water systems.
Snow Models Centering
- Simpson studies snow and ice to learn social practices like "centering": fragile flakes bond into stronger communal snow.
- She treats natural processes as models for communication, consent, accountability, and coalition-building.
Mentor Doug Williams
- Doug Williams, an elder from Curve Lake, taught Simpson for two decades about land, ceremony, and storytelling.
- His mentorship deeply shaped her thinking and appears throughout Theory of Water.
