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Anishinaabe

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Anishinaabe or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek (which is the plural form of the word) is a self-description often used by people belonging to the indigenous Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonkin peoples of North America, who share closely related Algonquian languages.

Image:Anishinaabe-Anishinini Map.PNG

The definition of "Anishnaabeg" is First- or Original-People. Another possible definition refers to ideas about the good humans, or good people that are on the right road or path given to them by the Creator.

There are many variant spellings of the Anishinaabe name, depending on the transcription scheme and also on whether the name is singular or plural. So, different spelling systems may indicate vowel length or spell certain consonants differently (Anishinabe, Anicinape); meanwhile, variants ending in -eg/ek (Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek) come from an Algonquian plural, while those ending in an -e come from an Algonquian singular.

In the eastern Ojibwe and in the Odawa, due the syncope the word experiences, the name "Anishinaabe" is realised as Nishnaabe. The cognate word Neshnabé comes from Potawatomi, a people long allied with Odawas and Ojibwes in the Council of Three Fires. Identified as Anishinaabe but not part of the Council of Three Fires are the Nipissing, Mississaugas and Algonquin.

The Saulteaux people of western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan are also Anishinaabe, a sub-tribe of the Ojibwe, but they often call themselves Nakawē(-k) and their form of the Anishinaabe language as Nakawēmowin. Closely related to the Ojibwe and speaking a language mutually intelligible with Anishinaabemowin (Anishinaabe language) are the Oji-Cree (also known as "Severn Ojibwe"). However, their most common self-description is Anishinini (plural: Anishininiwag) and their language Anishininimowin.

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[edit] History

According to their tradition, and from recordings in birch bark scrolls, they came from the eastern areas of North America, or Turtle Island, and from along the east coast. According to the oral history, seven great miigis (radiant/iridescent) beings appeared to the peoples in the Waabanakiing (Land of the Dawn, i.e. Eastern Land) to teach the peoples of the mide way of life. However, the one of the seven great miigis beings was too spiritually powerful and killed the peoples in the Waabanakiing whenever the people were in its presence. The six great miigis beings remained to teach while the one returned into the ocean. The six great miigis beings then established doodem (clans) for the peoples in the east. Of these doodem, the five original Anishinaabe doodem were the Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi (Echo-maker, i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke (Tender, i.e., Bear) and Moozoonsii (Little Moose), then these six miigis beings returned into the ocean as well. If the seventh miigis being stayed, it would have established the Thunderbird doodem. At a later time, one of these miigis beings appeared in a vision to relate a prophecy. The prophecy stated that if the Anishinaabeg did not move further west, they would not be able to keep their traditional ways alive because of the many new settlements and European immigrants that would arrive soon. Their migration path would be symbolized by a series of smaller Turtle Islands, which was confirmed with miigis shells (i.e., cowry shells). After receiving assurance from the their "Allied Brothers" (i.e., Mi'kmaq) and "Father" (i.e., Abnaki) of their safety in having the Anishinaabeg move inland, they advanced along the St. Lawrence River to the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, and then to the Great Lakes. First of these smaller Turtle Islands was Mooniyaa, which Mooniyaang (Montreal, Quebec) now stands. At their "third stopping place", the Anishinaabeg divided into six divisions: Algonquin, Nipissing, Mississaugas, Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi. While the Odawa established their long-held cultural centre on Manitoulin Island, the Ojibwe established their long-held cultural centre in the Sault Ste. Marie region of Ontario, Canada. With expansion of trade under partnerships with the French and later the British, fostered by availability of Small arms, members of the Council of Three Fires expanded southward to the Ohio River, southwestward along the Illinois River, and westward along Lake Superior, Lake of the Woods and the northern Great Plains.

As the Anishinaabeg moved inland, through both alliances and conquest, various other closely-related Algonquian peoples were incorporated into the Anishinaabe Nation. These included, but not limited to, the Noquet (originally part of the Menomini Tribe) and Mandwe (originally part of the Fox). Other incorporated groups can generally be identified by the individual's Doodem (Clan). Migizi-doodem (Bald Eagle Clan) generally identifies those whose ancestors were Americans, Awaazisii-doodem (Burbot Clan) as now extinct branch of Sioux occupying the Sault Ste. Marie region of Lake Superior and Ma'iingan-doodem (Wolf Clan) as Santee Sioux. Other Anishinaabe doodem migrated out of the core Anishinaabeg groupings, such as the Nibiinaabe-doodem (Merman Clan) that is now found as the "Water-spirit Clan" of the Winnebagos.

Anishinaabeg peoples live as tribal governments or bands (First Nations) in both the northern United States and southern Canada, chiefly around the Great Lakes. Through treaties and Indian Removal of the past, some Anishinaabeg are also located in Kansas and Oklahoma.


[edit] Relations Between the Anishinabe and The White Settlers

The relationship between the Anishinabe and the American government is not a pleasant one. The government has attempted to relocate tribes from the entire United States to the west as the white pioneers colonized the areas. After a period of time the goal of the government changed. In the late 19h century, the government instead moved the tribes onto reservations. The government attempted to do this to the Anishinabe in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The government’s main goal in the reservations was to Americanize the Anishinabe through breaking down their cultural heritage and putting them all in the same areas, according to Richard White. There were two main people in the schemes to relocate the Natives to reservations in the late 19th century. The first was George Manypenny who was the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1853 through 1857. Manypenny estimated that there were over seven thousand Indians living in the state that were “imbibing the worst vices of civilization” (White 2000) and that they were becoming a “vitiated and degraded, a pest and a nuisance to the neighborhoods” (White 2000) they lived near. Furthermore he stated that a small number of Indians who lived in Christian villages were gradually improving and “acquiring the habits and tastes of civilized life” (White 2000). Here Manypenny displays how his attitude of religious superiority affected his decisions by attempting to convert these, in his eyes, heathens. He decided that the most efficient way to make these heathens into functioning parts of society was to move them all into one area. He also decided that keeping the natives near to society would be the best solution, which took away the threat of moving them west, in Americanizing these Native Americans.

The second participant in these plots, Henry Gilbert, head of the Mackinac Agency, agreed with Manypenny in focusing the Anishinabe in single areas instead of allowing them to remain spread out in many small bands as stated by Richard White. His reason, however, was different from that of Manypenny. While Manypenny focused on what he believed to be moralistic life styles, Gilbert held a view of saving money for the government when relocating the natives. Gilbert desired to relieve the government of federal obligations to the Indians by Americanizing them instead of allowing them to be a separate entity. Manypenny and Gilbert worked together to create reservations so that large numbers of Native Americans would live in the same area to make them as American as those that originated from Europe and to become part of the “correct” religion.

Image:Ojibwa Chief.gif The government continually weakened the Anishinabe by taking away their history and the natives could not stop them once they started. Yet why were they allowed to start this? The reason is that, in the eyes of the Anishinabe, every person and every tribe are “nii-kon-nis-as” (Bento-Banai) which translated to “brothers.” These people believed that the only difference among each tribe was the way they speak and their language (Bento-Banai). So the natives allowed all of these actions to start because they trusted the white men. The settlers were deemed brothers and the Indians believed that brothers would not lie to their brethren. Once the new settlers worked their way into the council of the Native Americans, they could not be stopped. They began by coming in small bands in which they gained the trust of the natives and were given a seat among the council fires. Then more and more pioneers came into this country and kept requesting a larger seat until the settlers became the majority and the natives the minority.

Now the new minorities are fighting to keep their land. Their reason being because “[they] love the spot where [their] Fore fathers bones [were] laid and [they desired] that [their] bones may rest besides [their Fore fathers] also” (White2000). This statement shows the importance of the land that has been taken away from the Anishinabe. American society has learned to respect and honor their dead. They create vast areas of land for the dead to be laid, and they raise monuments of varying sizes over them. However they will not allow those that lived in this land before them to honor their own dead and, after traveling the trail of life, to be able to lie down beside them.

The white man has taken everything from the Native Americans. All that the Anishinabe can really call their own is their burial plots alongside their ancestors, and even that they must fight for. What was once a vast environment that was shared among various tribes has been taken away, through both force and deception, until the last real amount of land that can be owned by this once vast group is broken into small plots that are roughly six feet long, four feet wide, and located six feet under the ground.


[edit] Anishinaabe in popular culture

A fictional Anishinaabe clan in Ontario, the Mtigwaki, are featured in the comic strip For Better or For Worse from 2005-2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Reference

  • Bento-Banai, Edward (2004). Creation- From the Ojibwa. The Mishomis Book.
  • Warren, William W. History of the Ojibway People. Borealis Books (St. Paul, MN: 1984).
  • White, Richard (July 31, 2000). Chippewas of the Sault. The Sault Trine News.es:Anishinaabe
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