On Wholeness (anishinaabeg Pathways To Embodiment And Liberation)

By (author) Christie-Peters, Quill
Description:

A brilliant exploration embodied wholeness as a pathway to our collective liberation

Through reflections on childbirth, parenting, creative practice, and expansive responsibility, Anishinaabe visual artist Quill Christie-Peters explores how reconnecting with the body can be an act of resistance and healing. She shows that wholeness—despite pain and displacement—is not just possible but essential for liberation, not only for Indigenous people but for all of us.

In poetic and raw storytelling, Quill shares her own experiences of gendered violence and her father’s survival of residential school, revealing how colonialism disconnects us from ourselves. Yet, through an Anishinaabe lens, the body is more than just flesh—it extends to ancestors, homelands, spirit relations, and animal kin.

This fierce and enlightening book reimagines the way we understand settler colonialism—through the body itself. On Wholeness takes us on a journey that begins before birth, in a realm where ancestors and spirits swirl like smoke in the great beyond. 

Review quote:

“Quill Christie-Peters demonstrates with wisdom and love that we can imagine and enact a world beyond the depravities of the colonial present.” —Billy-Ray Belcourt, author of Coexistence and A Minor Chorus

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“An emotional and spiritual journey of liberatory embodiment.” —Wanda Nanibush, Anishinaabe writer/curator

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“Quill Christie-Peters’ voice is vital, and the messages that spill out of this book are timely reminders of what it means to be whole, to be connected to land and others, and to be alive.” —Helen Knott, author of Becoming a Matriarch

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“An embodied voyage through Anishinaabe culture, wisdom, and storytelling … A must-read.” —Céline Semaan, Slow Factory

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“Intense and unforgettable.” — The Miramichi Reader

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"A vital, much-needed book as we reckon with both the ravages and the unraveling of settler colonialism." — 49th Shelf

Biographical note:
QUILL CHRISTIE-PETERS is an Anishinaabe educator and self-taught visual artist from Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation located in Treaty 3 territory. She is the creator and director of the Indigenous Youth Residency Program, an artist residency for Indigenous youth that engages land-based creative practices through Anishinaabe artistic methodologies. She holds a master’s degree in Indigenous governance on Anishinaabe art-making as a process of falling in love. She has spoken at Stanford University, the University of Toronto, and California College of the Arts, and her written work can be found in GUTS magazine and Canadian Art. She is also a mother, beadwork artist, and traditional tattoo practitioner following the protocols of her community. All of her work can be found at @raunchykwe.
Feature:

• ACCESSIBLE CRITIQUE: With personal and poetic writing, this book seeks to fill the gap between academic, didactic, and creative writing about the tangible impact of colonialism. For fans of This Accident of Being Lost, A History of My Brief Body, and How to Do Nothing, works where activism and philosophy meet.
• HOPEFUL & TIMELY: One of the central themes of the book is that the body holds everything one needs in spite of colonial violence and oppression.
• COMPLEX & CREATIVE: On Wholeness weaves in an Anishinaabeg worldview with robust theoretical and practical explorations of settler colonialism.
• ANISHINAABEG AUTHOR & AUDIENCE: This book is meant for Anishinaabeg peoples, but is also accessibl