Ogimaag: Anishinaabeg Leadership, 1760-1845

Conclusion

227 Conclusion The Anishinaabeg of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries lived in a universe suffused with powerful manidoog that positively or negatively affected their daily lives at all levels , from subsistence to warfare to courting to politics. These manidoog became incorporated into Anishinaabeg lives through webs of reciprocal social relationships that extended the notion of kin far beyond biological relatives. They brought needed gifts or blessings to help Anishinaabeg people survive and reinforced the close relationship between the Anishinaabeg and the natural world around them that provided more than simple subsistence. These basic components of Ojibwe world view are fundamental to understanding where Anishinaabeg believed power lay and the nature of the leadership structures these sources of power supported. Although all members of society formed relationships with manidoog that helped their families, exceptionally strong connections enhanced an individual’s influence and personal standing within the community. Access to manidoog assistance, while it seldom allowed gifted individuals to usurp the positions of ogimaag, augmented hereditary authority and sometimes even allowed ogimaag to expand their influence beyond the borders of their home communities. Anishinaabeg peoples felt a constant need for communication with and assistance from manidoog in everyday life expressed through song, dance, tobacco, feasting, fasting, and dreams. Societal expectations demonstrated this from birth when the parents of a newborn selected someone from among the elders of the community to learn the name of the child. Nicollet reported 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 228 Conclusion that the individual chosen for this task was the one who had the most power—emphasizing that this was the actual expression his informants used. This procedure was vital, extending to the newborn child not only the influence and protection of the namer but also those of the manidoog that assisted the namer . Intrigued by these remarks, Nicollet inquired what defined those with the most power, and was told those “whose power is considered to be equal to that of the spirits in the arts of warfare , hunting, and healing.”1 These were the very strengths Anishinaabeg expected from their leaders. Political leaders had to demonstrate a strong connection to the manidoog who would give them guidance and assistance for the people because political and economic decisions were always made with the larger community of humans, manidoog, and their reciprocal obligations to one another in mind. Gifts made these relationships possible. The gifts and blessings that passed between family members, between leaders, between humans and manidoog, between all “persons” in the Anishinaabeg universe wove the fabric of society together. They defined relative power among the parties, established reciprocal obligation, protected against times of adversity or scarcity, and made sure that individuals, even when relatively isolated, never believed that they faced the odds alone. The basic needs of society structured the kinds of decisions required of leaders, while their connections with manidoog and other social groups impacted the success of their actions and decisions. This interest in constantly expanding circles of kin and mutual obligation refutes the assumptions of those scholars who have characterized Ojibwe society as “atomistic.” Internally, leadership in Ojibwe communities addressed the allocation of sugarbush , wild rice beds, fisheries, and garden plots. Households seldom functioned as discrete autonomous political units, as atomists claim, but depended on participation in a village unit for all claims to resource use. Externally, the same ogimaag Conclusion 229 who dealt with such day-to-day issues also negotiated with other Anishinaabeg villages, with leaders of other Native nations, and with agents of colonial governments. When necessary, a leader skilled in war solicited or was asked to lead war parties made up of members of the village against their enemies. The village also served as the primary unit for the celebration of full Midewiwin rights, led by a community member with particularly strong ties to the manidoog, as demonstrated through multiple levels of Midewiwin initiation and through other services, such as healing the sick. The village community, through its various types of leaders, made the primary economic, political, and religious decisions for its members. Marriage, gift exchange, defensive needs and religious ceremonies in turn made villages socially and politically dependent on one another. Individuals and communities constantly sought contact and counsel with others as often as possible, rather than shunning such interaction...