The Midewiwin is the traditional religious belief system central to the world view of Ojibwa in Canada and the US. It is a highly complex and rich series of sacred teachings and narratives whose preservation enabled the Ojibwa to withstand severe challenges to their entire social fabric throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It remains an important living and spiritual tradition for many Aboriginal people today.The rituals of the Midewiwin were observed by many 19th century Euro-Americans, most of whom approached these ceremonies with hostility and suspicion. As a result, although there were many accounts of the Midewiwin published in the 19th century, they were often riddled with misinterpretations and inaccuracies.Historian Michael Angel compares the early texts written about the Midewiwin, and identifies major, common misconceptions in these accounts. In his explanation of the historical role played by the Midewiwin, he provides alternative viewpoints and explanations of the significance of the ceremonies, while respecting the sacred and symbolic nature of the Midewiwin rituals, songs, and scrolls.

In the 1930s, Chief William Berens shared with anthropologist A. Irving Hallowell a remarkable history of his life, as well as many personal and dream experiences that held special significance for him. Most of this material has never been published.

This volume of selected papers celebrates the sixtieth birthday of Dr. A. Irving Hallowell.

Volume 16 offers appreciations of A. Irving Hallowell by M. Spiro, R. Fogelson, and E. Bourguignon. Additional topics include Kagwahiv dream beliefs (W. Kracke); experiences of the self in Papua New Guinea (F. Poole); house design and the self in an African culture (R. & S. LeVine); circumcision and biblical narrative (M. Lansky & B. Kilborne); and cultic elements in early Christianity (W. Meissner).

Describes & analyzes traditional Ojibwa religion (TOR) & the changes it has undergone through the last three centuries. Emphasizes the influence of Christian missions (CM) to the Ojibwas in effecting religious changes, & examines the concomitant changes in Ojibwa culture & environment through the historical period. Contents: Review of Sources; Criteria for Determining what was TOR; Ojibwa History; CM to the Ojibwas; Ojibwa Responses to CM; The Ojibwa Person, Living & Dead; The Manitos; Nanabozho & the Creation Myth; Ojibwa Relations with the Manitos; Puberty Fasting & Visions; Disease, Health, & Medicine; Religious Leadership; Midewiwin; Diverse Religious Movements; & The Loss of TOR. Maps & charts.

Using archival and ethnographic research, Michael D. McNally follows the making of Ojibwe eldership, showing that deference to older women and men is part of a fuller moral, aesthetic, and cosmological vision connected to the ongoing circle of life and tradition of authority that has been crucial to surviving colonization.

In 1670, the ancient homeland of the Cree and Ojibwe people of Hudson Bay became known to the English entrepreneurs of the Hudson’s Bay Company as Rupert’s Land, after the founder and absentee landlord, Prince Rupert. For four decades, Jennifer S. H. Brown has examined the complex relationships that developed among the newcomers and the Algonquian communities—who hosted and tolerated the fur traders—and later, the missionaries, anthropologists, and others who found their way into Indigenous lives and territories. The eighteen essays gathered in this book explore Brown’s investigations into the surprising range of interactions among Indigenous people and newcomers as they met or observed one another from a distance, and as they competed, compromised, and rejected or adapted to change. While diverse in their subject matter, the essays have thematic unity in their focus on the old HBC territory and its peoples from the 1600s to the present. More than an anthology, the chapters of An Ethnohistorian in Rupert’s Land provide examples of Brown’s exceptional skill in the close study of texts, including oral documents, images, artifacts, and other cultural expressions. The volume as a whole represents the scholarly evolution of one of the leading ethnohistorians in Canada and the United States.