Dawaa: The Space Between celebrates in poetry the tensions and beauty between the two ancestral languages of the author: Ojibwe and English.
As a First Nations woman, Tareyn Johnson grew up without knowing the language of her ancestors. Her grandparents attended residential school, and neither they, nor her mother carried the language. Left with a deep longing desire to embrace Anishnaabemowin (Ojibwe) language, she began her learning journey as an adult.
As the lists of words grew, they began to form visually in the author's mind. As a result, 26 poems-two for each of the Thirteen Moons-grouped seasonally, beautifully juxtapose Ojibwe and English to express Johnson's feeling of existing as an Anishnaabekwe in the modern world.
Dawaa is not intended as a didactic tool, or as a language teaching tool. This book of poetry examines the unique experience of walking into worlds, speaking and learning two languages, and relating the two ways of knowing in a liminal space… the space between.
nanda-gikendan-seek to know it, seek to learn it. I have always felt just around the corner from my ancestors' language. Like every time I thought I was catching up to it, its shadow would slip behind a tree or float too high in the sky, out of reach. Tareyn Johnson is Anishnaabe and a member of the Chippewa of Georgina Island First Nation. She has been the Director of Indigenous Affairs at the University of Ottawa since 2017, a professor in the Indigenous Studies program since 2021, and completed her YTT200 in 2019. Tareyn is a passionate storyteller and artist, with her own art company named for her daughter's traditional name, She Came Shining. Tareyn has dedicated her personal and professional life to healing, wellness, decolonization, and teaching Indigenous knowledge and history. Dawaa: The Space Between is a beautiful book of poetry inspired by the world views of Anishnaabemowin, the Ojibwe language. Dawaa: The space between investigates the complex nature of being an Indigenous person in Canada, it offers an insider look at how an Indigenous person handles the divide between worldviews and navigates language as a lens to understading the world This book of poetry provides a never-before-seen parallel of how Anishnaabemowin concepts exist in language versus how they translate to English Dawaa allows readers to understand the differences in language that define Anishanaabe worldview and the manner it differs from an English-speaking worldview, allowing the English-speaking audience to better understand Anishnaabe perspectives The text is enriched with four full-colour visual pieces created by the author, who is also a visual artist. The author offers a deeply personal and poetic account of a First Nations' woman experience in a colonial environment.
Spring / Mnookmi
Summer / Niibin
Autumn / Dgwaagi
Winter / Bboon
