Reimagining the Role of ‘Addiction Worker’
Reimagined role-name in Biigtigong’s dialect of Nishnaabemwin:
- Gaa-nnaandwigiigdod Wii-mmaanjgon’gaazsing
Gaa-nnaandwigiigdod Wii-mmaanjgon’gaazsing ~ Harm-reduction Counsellor
Morphemes (building blocks of each word):
- Gaa-nnaandwigiigdod ~ “counsellor”
- Gaa-…d ~ “someone who…”
- nnaandwi ~ reduplicated “seeking”, “seeking-seeking”
- giigdo ~ “someone speaks”
- Wii-mmaanjgon’gaazsing ~ “for harm-reduction”
- Wii- ~ “so that…”
- mmaanjgo ~ “unable to move, restrained, immobile”
- n ~ “act on h/ by hand”
- gaaz ~ “someone undergoes action (by someone else)”
- sing ~ “…(abstract-)they do not”, “…’ones’ do not”
A translation of the morphemes:
- someone-who-seeks-seeks-speaks so that people are not restrained/immobilized by things/people
A plainer, more free-form English translation:
- someone who counsels people so that people are not immobilized/restrained by their addiction(s)
A formal-English translation:
- Harm-reduction Counsellor
Montano, J. P., & Michano, A. R. “Reimagining Health Centre Roles in Biigtigong Nishnaabemwin” biigtigong.com. Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, 14 Jul 2017. Web.