About Falling-Leaves

Reworked image by artist Fanny Aishaa

Dear Falling-Leaves Visitors,

this is a small collection & summary of the things I have learned about Indigenous nations in Canada, especially the Mi'kmaq peoples in Nova Scotia, during my exchange year at Acadia University, Wolfville, in 2017-2018.

The blog Falling-Leaves should functuate as a plattform to make pieces of knowledge accessable for people in different places in this world. I truly hope that this blog will help to raise awareness, sensitivity and respect for Indigenous peoples in North America.

Since it is the first time that I study Indigenous history, traditions and culture, my knowledge is neither complete nor deep-rooted yet. Therefore, I really want to ack-nowledge that this blog doesn't claim integrity and accuracy, and I apologize for any misunderstandings my texts might lead to. If there are suggestions, comments or criticism, I would love to hear them in order to have informative and respectul dialogues about those topics.

However, I choose the title Falling Leaves and this red & white design to refer to the Canadian flag on one hand, and to allude to the crumbling facade of Canadian history, as a result of the increasing movements and protests of Indigenous peoples in North America against their oppression and betrayal by European settlers, former and current governments, as well as by a huge part of North American society for centuries. 
The picture on the right is one of my favorite art pieces, which shows a woman with an egale feather infront of a barrier of the RCMP, the Canadian police. The original photograph was taken during a peaceful protest by the Elsipogtog First Nation against fracking and resulting destruction of the enviroment in New Brunswick. In my opinion the picture represents movement, resistence and power at the same time, and gives hope for the future.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog, start dialogues about the issues mentioned here, and help to increase awareness and attention to the things happening around us! 

Nele Eis


(Interesting fact: in Mi'kmaq language the word nele'k can be translated with "nosey". Some people might agree concerning this coincidence between my name and its meaning...)