Theory of Water:
Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead
by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Haymarket Books | 2025 | Purchase Book
About the Book
Theory of Water is a mind-bending, sobering work of nonfiction, in which author Leanne Betasamosake Simpson seeks a different relationship with water and our beloved landscapes that are always being shaped by water.
Simpson takes the reader on a series of meditations alongside our water kin: water as her guide, a way through the constraints of global market capitalism and colonial frameworks of living.
Water, she writes, is fugitive, always slipping out its cage, always leaking, shapeshifting, freezing, and melting, yet always on the go—always set on world-building.
From the publisher:
“In this inventive work, Simpson draws on Nishnaabeg origin stories while artfully weaving the work of influential writers and artists alongside her personal memories and experience—and in doing so, reimagines water as a catalyst for radical transformation, capable of birthing a new world.
Theory of Water is a resonant exploration of an intricate, multi-layered relationship with the most abundant element on our planet—one that, as Simpson eloquently shows, is shaping our present even as it demands a radical rethinking of how we might achieve a just future.”
This book invites the reader to listen, really listen, to water, to be led by it, to feel its churn in our bodies as a voice of subversion and belonging, not only a resource to bottle and sell, or simply revel in.
Simpson refers to water as Nibi, as a “theory,” or a “mapping of life and affiliation and global connection… a form of Indigenous internationalism.” Water can teach us about cycles, about restraint, solidarity, and mutual aid. Shorelines, she writes, can teach us about fractals—patterns repeated across scales.
“What does it mean to believe in water?” She asks early in the book. The book only deepens this question as Simpson invites the reader to experience this inquiry alongside her.
About the Author:
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer, musician, and academic, a member of Alderville First Nation, known for award-winning books, albums, and academic work grounded in Indigenous intellectual practices and land-based education. Her work, which includes Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies and A Short History of the Blockade, explores themes of Indigenous sovereignty and resistance through storytelling, music, and scholarly research.