DammedexploresCanada’shydroelectricboomintheLakeoftheWoodsarea.ItcomplicatesnarrativesofincreasingaffluenceinpostwarCanada,revealingthattheinversewastrueforIndigenouscommunitiesalongtheWinnipegRiver.Dammedmakesclearthathydroelectricgeneratingstationsweredesignedtoservesettlerpopulations.GovernmentsanddevelopersexcludedtheAnishinabegfromplanningandoperationsandfailedtoconsiderhowpowerproductionmightinfluencethehealthandeconomyoftheircommunities.Bysodoing,CanadaandOntariothwartedafuturethatalignedwiththetermsoftreaty,afutureinwhichbothsettlersandtheAnishinabegmightthriveinsharedterritories.Thesamehydroelectricdevelopmentthatpoweredsettlercommunitiesfloodedmanominfields,washedawayroads,andcompromisedfishpopulations.Anishinaabefamiliesrespondedcreativelytomanagethegovernment-sanctionedenvironmentalchangeandsurvivetheresultingeconomicloss.Lubyrevealstheseresponsestodamdevelopment,invitingreaderstoconsiderhowresistancemightbeexpressedbyindividualsandfamilies,andacrossgenderedandgenerationallines.Lubyweavestext,testimony,andexperiencetogether,groundingthishistoricalworkintheterritoryofherpaternalancestors,landsshecallshome.Withevidencedrawnfromarchivalmaterial,oralhistory,andenvironmentalobservation,DammedinvitesreaderstoconfrontCanadiancolonialisminthetwentiethcentury.
