Relations Across the Lands: Ojibwe and Dakota Interactions in the Indigenous Borderlands of the Western Great Lakes

Abstract:Borderlands studies have expanded how scholars understand interactions between Euro-Americans and Indigenous nations. However, borderlands did not only exist where Euro-Americans were present. “Relations Across the Lands” argues that Indigenous borderlands existed between tribes and that these Indigenous borderlands functioned differently from borderlands between empires and Native nations. Relationships rested at the center of boundaries, identity, and who could access vital environmental gifts. This article demonstrates the presence of these Indigenous borderlands by examining a case study of the westward movement of the Ojibwe during the eighteenth century and their resulting interactions with the Dakota. The framework of Indigenous borderlands can help decolonize historical narratives and illuminate understudied aspects of Indigenous lifeways further centering Indigenous narratives.