“Are you only interviewing women for this?”

When I approached one Anishinaabe Elder at Serpent River First Nation (SRFN) in spring 2014 as part of a historical project on Indigenous women’s activism in the post-1945 period, her immediate response got to the heart of Indigenous notions of gender complementarity. ² “Are you only interviewing women for this?” she asked in a way that made clear the correct answer was “No.” I assured her that I was interviewing both men and women Elders about their experiences as youth and young adults in the community ³ . In keeping with her understanding of Anishinaabe womanhood, a community story could not be adequately told without the voices of women and men, irrespective of the fact that colonial policies have impacted them differently. ⁴