Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Academic Abstract

Theories of well-being are heavily influenced by Western viewpoints; even when Majority World perspectives are incorporated, psychologists often fail to consider the rich cultural knowledge of the Indigenous peoples of North America. We propose that personality and social psychologists engage in “deep learning” (without appropriation or colonization) of a Native American Majority World perspective on well-being. We present a description of the “storywork” surrounding the concept of Mino-Bimaadiziwin, translated as “the good life” or “living in a good way,” emerging for the Anishinaabeg, who are Indigenous peoples consisting of the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Potawatomi, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Nipissing, and Mississauga First Nations. We discuss the Gichi-dibaakonigewinan, The Seven Grandfather Teachings, that emerge to promote well-being, which is inherently relational and concerns harmony in contrast to happiness. Gichi-dibaakonigewinan are composed of seven virtues—Truth, Humility, Respect, Love, Bravery, Integrity, and Wisdom—whose consideration reveals pathways to well-being possible in Majority World Contexts that psychologists should consider.

Public Abstract

What is the good life, or living in a good way? Western psychology, rooted in Western philosophy, has sought to study this very question. However, researchers have not considered the perspective of the Majority World. In this paper, we present how the Anishinaabeg, who are Indigenous peoples consisting of the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Potawatomi, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Nipissing, and Mississauga First Nations, think about the good life, or Mino-Bimaadiziwin. Mino-Bimaadiziwin is characterized by the pursuit of harmony in contrast to happiness. We discuss the Gichi-dibaakonigewinan, The Seven Grandfather Teachings, that promote well-being. These Seven Grandfather Teachings are composed of seven virtues, each typified by an animal—the turtle for Truth, wolf for Humility, buffalo for Respect, eagle for Love, Bear for Courage, Raven for Integrity, and Beaver for Wisdom—whose consideration reveals pathways to well-being possible in Majority World Contexts psychologists should consider.

Keywords

Anishinaabe well-being virtue

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbas

Ekowati

Suhariadi

Hamid

S. A. R.

(2022). Negative vs positive psychology: A review of science of well-being. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 58(4), 1091–1122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-022-09708-1

Archibald

(2008). Indigenous storywork—Educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit. UBC Press. https://www.ubcpress.ca/indigenous-storywork

Arnett

J. J.

(2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63(7), 602–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602

Bear Medicinewalker. (2022). Seven grandfather teachings [educational]. Seven Grandfather Teachings. bearmedicinewalker.com

Benton-Banai

(1988). The Mishomis book: The voice of the Ojibway. University of Minnesota Press.

Bruner

(1987). Actual minds, possible worlds. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674003668

Bureau

U. C.

(2020). A Look at the Largest American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and Villages in the Nation, Tribal Areas and States. Census.Gov. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/10/2020-census-dhc-a-aian-population.html

Cabrera

Donaldson

S. I.

(2024). PERMA to PERMA+4 building blocks of well-being: A systematic review of the empirical literature. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 19(3), 510–529. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2023.2208099

Castro-Tejerina

Loredo-Narciandi

J. C.

(2015). Evolution, activity and assembled mediation: A neo-Balwinian response to the universalism of evolutionary psychology. Culture & Psychology, 21(1), 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X15568980

10.

Ciofalo

Dudgeon

Nikora

L. W.

(2022). Indigenous community psychologies, decolonization, and radical imagination within ecologies of knowledges. American Journal of Community Psychology, 69(3–4), 283–293. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12583

11.

Corntassel

(2012). Re-envisioning resurgence: Indigenous pathways to decolonization and sustainable self-determination. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), Article 1.

12.

Decolonial Psychology Editorial Collective. (2021). General psychology otherwise: A decolonial articulation. Review of General Psychology, 25(4), 339–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/10892680211048177

13.

Dionne

Nixon

(2014). Moving beyond residential school trauma abuse: A phenomenological hermeneutic analysis. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12(3), 335–350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-013-9457-y

14.

Fish

Counts

P. K.

(2022). “Justice for Native people, justice for Native me”: Using digital storytelling methodologies to change the master narrative of Native American peoples. In McLean

K. C.

(Ed.), Cultural methods in psychology: Describing and transforming cultures (pp. 237–272). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190095949.003.0008

15.

Fish

Gone

J. P.

(2024). Beyond decolonization: Anticolonial methodologies for indigenous futurity in psychological research. In Comas-Díaz

Adames

H. Y.

Chavez-Dueñas

N. Y.

(Eds.), Decolonial psychology: Toward anticolonial theories, research, training, and practice (pp. 119–141). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000376-006

16.

Geniusz

M. S.

(2015). Plants have so much to give us, all we have to do is ask: Anishinaabe botanical teachings. University of Minnesota Press. https://www.amazon.com/Plants-Have-Much-Give-All/dp/B0C44BLKXM/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=174246947882&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9029894&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14484284097516451547&hvtargid=kwd-186899615059&hydadcr=24603_9648850&keywords=plants+have+so+much+to+give+us&qid=1692203060&sr=8-1

17.

Gross

D. L. W.

(2014). Anishinaabe ways of knowing and being (1st ed). Ashgate.

18.

Haig-Brown

(2010). Indigenous thought, appropriation, and non-aboriginal people. Canadian Journal of Education, 33(4), 925–950.

19.

Henrich

Heine

S. J.

Norenzayan

(2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X

20.

Johnston

(1990). Ojibway heritage. https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bison-books/9780803275720

21.

Jones. (2016, August 16). Gwayakwaadiziwin. Indigenous Art in Stauffer Library. https://virtual-exhibits.library.queensu.ca/indigenous-art-stauffer/william-r-lederman/

22.

King

M. L.

(2019). The neural correlates of well-being: A systematic review of the human neuroimaging and neuropsychological literature. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 19(4), 779–796. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-019-00720-4

23.

Kline

M. A.

Shamsudheen

Broesch

(2018). Variation is the universal: Making cultural evolution work in developmental psychology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1743), 20170059. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0059

24.

Krys

Kostoula

van Tilburg

W. A. P.

Mosca

Lee

J. H.

Maricchiolo

Kosiarczyk

Kocimska-Bortnowska

Torres

Hitokoto

Liew

Bond

M. H.

Lun

V. M. -C.

Vignoles

V. L.

Zelenski

J. M.

Haas

B. W.

Park

Vauclair

C. -M.

Kwiatkowska

Uchida

(2024). Happiness maximization is a WEIRD way of living. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17456916231208367. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916231208367

25.

Krys

Zelenski

J. M.

Capaldi

C. A.

Park

Tilburg

Osch

Haas

B. W.

Bond

M. H.

Dominguez-Espinoza

Xing

Igbokwe

D. O.

Kwiatkowska

Luzniak-Piecha

Nader

Rizwan

Zhu

Uchida

(2019). Putting the “we” into well-being: Using collectivism-themed measures of well-being attenuates well-being’s association with individualism. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 22(3), 256–267. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12364

26.

McAdams

D. P.

(2003). Identity and the Life Story. In Fivush

Haden

C. A.

(Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 187–207). Lawerence Erlbaum Associates.

27.

McLean

K. C.

Syed

(Eds.). (2015). The Oxford handbook of identity development. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199936564.001.0001

28.

McMillan

(2023). Anishinaabe values and servant leadership: A two-eyed seeing approach. Journal of Values Based Leadership, 16(1), 148–172.

29.

Morrissette

P. J.

(1994). The holocaust of First Nation people: Residual effects on parenting and treatment implications. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 16(5), 381–392. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02197900

30.

Narvaez

(2008). Triune ethics: The neurobiological roots of our multiple moralities. New Ideas in Psychology, 26(1), 95–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2007.07.008

31.

Narvaez

(2015). Understanding flourishing: Evolutionary baselines and morality. Journal of Moral Education, 44(3), 253–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2015.1054619

32.

Narvaez

Lapsley

D. K.

(2008). Teaching moral character: Two alternatives for teacher education. The Teacher Educator, 43(2), 156–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730701838983

33.

Nelson

J. M.

Jeffrey

Ferguson

M. A.

Schnitker

S. A.

(2024). Learning from Anishinaabe principles of relationality, process, and reciprocity to expand the reach of positive psychology and address loneliness. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, Special Section, 10(26).

34.

Nisbett

R. E.

Wilson

T. D.

(1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.3.231

35.

OMH. (2022). American Indian/Alaska Native Health | Office of Minority Health. https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/american-indianalaska-native-health

36.

Pasupathi

Wainryb

(2010). Developing moral agency through narrative. Human Development, 53(2), 55–80.

37.

Ratchford

J. L.

Pawl

Jeffrey

Schnitker

S. A.

(2023). What is virtue? Using philosophy to refine psychological definition and operationalization. Philosophical Psychology, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2023.2203157

38.

Rheault

(1999). Anishinaabe Mino-Bimaadiziwin—The way of a good life. Debwewin Press.

39.

Ryff

C. D.

(2014). Psychological well-being revisited: advances in the science and practice of Eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83(1), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000353263

40.

Ryff

C. D.

Boylan

J. M.

Kirsch

J. A.

(2021). Advancing the science of well-being: A dissenting view on measurement recommendations. In Lee

M. T.

Kubzansky

L. D.

VanderWeele

T. J.

(Eds.), Measuring well-being: Interdisciplinary perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities (pp. 521–535). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197512531.003.0019

41.

Schnitker

S. A.

King

P. E.

Houltberg

(2019). Religion, spirituality, and thriving: Transcendent narrative, virtue, and telos. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29(2), 276–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12443

42.

Seligman

M. E. P.

Csikszentmihalyi

(2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.5

43.

Smith

L. T.

(2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Zed Books.

44.

Tachine

A. R.

Nicolazzo

(Eds.). (2022). Weaving an otherwise: In-relations methodological practice. Routledge. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.byu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzMyODQxMTFfX0FO0?sid=5269fedf-8cd3-4369-a999-fd8950c76c1c@redis&vid=2&format=EB&rid=1

45.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. (2023). US Indian Boarding School History. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/

46.

Treuer

(2021). The cultural toolbox: Traditional ojibwe living in the modern world. Minnesota Historical Society Press. https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/mccarthy_center_innr/2

47.

Uniting Three Fires. (2024). The 7 grandfathers teachings. https://unitingthreefiresagainstviolence.org/the-7-grandfathers-teachin/

48.

van Zyl

L. E.

Gaffaney

van der Vaart

Dik

B. J.

Donaldson

S. I

. (2023). The critiques and criticisms of positive psychology: A systematic review. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2023.2178956

49.

Vukelich

(2023). The seven generations and the seven grandfather teachings. James Vukelich.

50.

Wilson

Alonso

Jeffrey

Tay

(2024). Conceptualizing “positive attributes” across psychological perspectives. Journal of Personality, 92(3), 683–696. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12873

51.

Xie

(2021). Measuring virtues in Chinese culture: Development of a Chinese Moral Character Questionnaire. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 16(1), 51–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09745-w

Mino-Bimaadiziwin and the Pursuit of Harmony

Abstract

Academic Abstract

Public Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References