Monday evening, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson gave a lecture on her upcoming book, “Theory of Water,” which discusses the importance of water among indigenous communities. The lecture was hosted by the Center for Environmental Humanities at Brown and was followed by a formal launch event for CEHAB, which was established last July as part of the Cogut Institute for the Humanities.
Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg musician and academic. “Theory of Water” will be her ninth book, set to release on April 22.
In the book, Simpson investigates the connection between water and living beings — including humans, plants and animals. She read three excerpts from her book during her talk.
In the first excerpt, Simpson retells a Nishnaabeg story that recounts how the world was created. She describes how Gzhwe Mnidoo builds a world that ultimately falls into violence. While several spirits, including one called “Sky Woman,” attempted to bring order to the chaotic world, resolution was brought by Nibi — “water” — who flooded the earth.
“Within Anishinaabe world, making water is crucial for humans,” Simpson said. “We first exist in a water world, a world that meets all our needs and where we learn what it feels like to be safe.”
Following Nibi’s flood, Sky Woman came across a turtle and other animals in need of care. She recognizes the patterns on the turtle’s shell as a map of the moon cycles, which coincided with the “cycles” experienced by people who menstruate.
“The turtle shell was a map … 13 full moons, or months, 28 days each,” Simpson said. “The turtle was showing her that what was missing in Gzhwe Mnidoo’s previous design was cycling and renewal.”
The second excerpt from Simpson explored the beauty and individuality of each form of water, focusing around Jackson Creek, a waterbody near her home.
She introduced the idea of “centering” — a “transformative communal process” that explains how every part of nature — including humans — bonds together.
Simpson uses the example of snowflakes to explain the process of centering.
“Snowflakes start out as a single nucleated dust particle that attracts water droplets that in turn freeze and accelerate into crystal form,” Simpson read. “The temperature and humidity of the sky world molded into complex shapes as it moves through the atmosphere.”
Simpson explained that when snowflakes “arrive in their new environment, the first thing they do is center” and “find a way to belong.”
The third excerpt Simpson shared was from a chapter titled “The One That Cleans the World.” In this excerpt, Simpson talked about Nibi, or water — which she called “the blood of the planet.”
Simpson talked about how although capitalism destroys water, water always comes back.
“While in this moment, Nibi might be hurt, horribly contaminated and reeling from the ongoing assaults of capitalism, left alone, we believe — as do many other indigenous peoples — Nibi will eventually revive itself, filtering, regenerating and renewing,” Simpson said.
Simpson connected this to modern life, explaining that “‘Theory of Water’ refuses the settler-colonial state” and the violences that maintains it. “It looks towards water as a collaborator to dream, build and make worlds where life is precious,” she added.
Diandra Polt ’25 learned about Simpson’s talk from a friend. Polt knew who Simpson was but had not read her work extensively before attending the lecture.
“The pieces that she chose to read to us were really well-selected and timely,” Polt said, explaining that the ideas not only appealed to the audience of the event, but also fit “for the period of time we’re living in right now.”
Amanda Macedo Macedo GS, a PhD candidate and Cogut Institute graduate fellow who attended the lecture, agreed that Simpson’s talk was a “really important conversation to have in this particular moment.”
Simpson’s lecture marked the formal launch event of CEHAB, which cultivates community and research on a range of topics, including invasive species and environmental activism.
The center integrates the work of a broad array of people, from philosophers to artists to scientists. CEHAB began as an initiative in 2017 before becoming a formal center.
At Simpson’s lecture, Macarena Gómez-Barris, the center’s director and chair of the department of modern culture and media, celebrated the new center’s launch.
“Since its inception, dozens of faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, staff and participants in this room have been involved in the path-breaking work of developing what I consider to be a pluriversal and rainbow formation that we call environmental humanities at Brown,” she said.
Leah Koritz is a senior staff writer covering science & research. Leah is from Dover, Massachusetts and studies Public Health and Judaic Studies. In her free time, Leah enjoys hiking, watching the Red Sox and playing with her dog, Boba.
