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12 Reopening the Midéwiwin Warren DeBoer There is a hallowed binary that separates America’s original inhabitants into two types: prehistoric and historic. The former settled and created its landscapes, yet are knowable only through mute material evidence of the kind archaeologists piece together.The latter exist only insofar as they come into contact with the invader, being in this sense a pure extension of Western historiography. —gordon Brotherston (1992:174) in native north or south America (but excluding literate Mesoamerica), Brotherston’s charge in the epigraph above could be reduced to a mere definition . obviously, there can be no prehistoric history if history is restricted to written documents rather than to the more generally conceived historein, “inquiry” of the greeks, an enterprise carried out by a hist_r, or “sage.” in this etymological sense, an ojibwa priest who relies upon birch-bark scrolls, notched counters, and songs as mnemonic aids while reciting the origins of the Midéwiwin, or medicine lodge, is certainly doing history.That the priest is not speaking in an archaeological idiom nor following the methods of a would-be scientific archaeology is hardly disqualifying, but rather should prompt anthropological curiosity concerning the varying ways that historical knowledge is created and mobilized. it is uncharitable to begin by claiming that our (pre)history seeks reliable knowledge of the past while the priest’s narration claims something else. nor is it helpful to undermine the historical project altogether by viewing the past merely as an arena for ethnic cheerleading or as an arsenal for contemporary power plays. There should be a middle ground of the kind discussed by Whiteley (2002). upon first consideration, the Midéwiwin, a religious society of the upper great Lakes region,would seem poorly equipped for crossing the protohistoric rubicon separating prehistory and its text-driven sequel. According to Harold Hickerson (1963), this society arose during the early historic period, crystallizing first among the ojibwa and later spreading to neighboring Algonquian and siouan groups, where it took diversifying forms. in Hickerson’s view, the Midéwiwin was a nativist development geared to the reopening the Midéwiwin 265 integration of multiclan and multiethnic settlements formed during the furtrade era. From the perspective of its members, however, it served to confer the good life through the observance of proper behavior and through the acquisition of knowledge needed to stave off illness and otherwise maneuver through a difficult world.The society,headed by a priesthood,was organized into four or, rarely, eight degrees symbolically identified with world levels. Each degree demanded progressively costly payments on the part of initiates. Following functionalist logic, Hickerson argued that these graded payments served to channel new wealth obtained through the fur trade. Jay Miller (1999), however, has emphasized that, while food was widely shared in native north America, spiritual information typically had to be acquired through the giving of appropriately valued gifts. The notion of spiritual arcana as the currency that counts is a widespread and deep-seated feature in north America, one unlikely to have originated in the fur-trade era. Hickerson’s case for a short Midéwiwin history has been accepted by a majority of scholars. Even Karl schlesier (1990), the champion of extending native American ethnography into deep time, has embraced Hickerson’s short chronology. A few scholars, however, notably robert Hall (1997:74) and Michael Angel (2002), have suggested earlier roots. i wish to be added to their number. Historical Evidence Figure 12.1 plots historical accounts pertaining to Midéwiwin or Midéwiwinlike practices as recorded ethnographically.The hedging simile “Midéwiwinlike ” seems appropriate, for, whenever its inception as a named cultural institution ,the Midéwiwin was presumably composed of elements having prior cultural roots. in this regard, it is of interest to note the cognate appellation mete:wini, glossed as “mystic rite,” appears in Aubin’s (1975) Proto-Algonquian dictionary.Although not ensuring an ancient pedigree,such an entry is nonetheless intriguing. during his 1623–1624 sojourn in Huronia, the recollet gabriel sagard (Wrong 1939:209) reported a neutral ceremony in which the name and social identity of a deceased individual were bestowed upon a successor. Although sagard’s account is brief,it recalls the Menomini obliteration Ceremony as observed three centuries later by Alanson skinner (1920:183).in both cases,ceremonial resurrection took place a year after death.in contrast to the neutral case, however, the Menomini rite was explicitly associated with the mitäwin (the Menomini term for Midéwiwin...

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