Anishinaabe Ways of Knowing and Being

316 Pages·2014·1.45 MB·English

by  Lawrence W. Gross

AnishinAAbe WAys of KnoWing And being
VITALITY OF INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
Series Editors
graham harvey, open University, UK
Afeosemime Adogame, The University of edinburgh, UK
inés Talamantez, University of California–santa barbara, UsA
Ashgate’s Vitality of Indigenous Religions series offers an exciting new cluster of research
monographs, drawing together volumes from leading international scholars across a wide
range of disciplinary perspectives. indigenous religions are vital and empowering for
many thousands of indigenous peoples globally, and dialogue with, and consideration
of, these diverse religious lifeways promises to challenge and refine the methodologies of
a number of academic disciplines, whilst greatly enhancing understandings of the world.
This series explores the development of contemporary indigenous religions from
traditional, ancestral precursors, but the characteristic contribution of the series is
its focus on their living and current manifestations. devoted to the contemporary
expression, experience and understanding of particular indigenous peoples and their
religions, books address key issues which include: the sacredness of land, exile from
lands, diasporic survival and diversification, the indigenization of Christianity and
other missionary religions, sacred language, and revitalization movements. Proving of
particular value to academics, graduates, postgraduates and higher level undergraduate
readers worldwide, this series holds obvious attraction to scholars of native American
studies, Maori studies, African studies and offers invaluable contributions to religious
studies, sociology, anthropology, geography and other related subject areas.
OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES
Progress and Its Impact on the Nagas
A Clash of Worldviews
Tezenlo Thong
isbn 978 1 4094 6820 2
Religious Change and Indigenous Peoples
The Making of Religious Identities
helena onnudottir, Adam Possamai and bryan s. Turner
isbn 978 1 4724 0297 4
Shamanism and Violence
Power, Repression and Suffering in Indigenous Religious Conflicts
edited by diana Riboli and davide Torri
isbn 978 1 4094 4386 5
Anishinaabe Ways of
Knowing and being
LAWRenCe W. gRoss
University of Redlands, USA
© Lawrence W. gross 2014
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Lawrence W. gross has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey Court east 110 Cherry street
Union Road suite 3-1
farnham burlington, VT 05401-3818
surrey, gU9 7PT UsA
england
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the british Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
gross, Lawrence William.
Anishinaabe ways of knowing and being / by Lawrence W. gross.
pages cm. -- (Vitality of indigenous religions)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-4724-1734-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- isbn 978-1-4724-1735-0 (ebook)
-- isbn 978-1-4724-1736-7 (epub) 1. ojibwa philosophy. 2. ojibwa indians--social life
and customs. i. Title.
e99.C6g76 2014
305.897’333--dc23
2014001007
isbn 978-1-4724-1734-3 (hbk)
isbn 978-1-4724-1735-0 (ebk – Pdf)
isbn 978-1-4724-1736-7 (ebk – ePUb)
V
Printed in the United Kingdom by henry Ling Limited,
at the dorset Press, dorchester, dT1 1hd
For my father and mother,
Kenneth N. Gross (1926–1978) and
Cecelia B. Gross (née Beaulieu, born 1930)
For the Anishinaabe elder, Tom Shingobe (1895–1978)
For my we’e, or spiritual mentor, Greg Kingbird Sr. (1950–2012)
This page has been left blank intentionally
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
Introduction 1
PART I The AnIshInAAbe APoCAlyPse
1 encounter with Apocalypse 17
2 Postapocalypse stress syndrome 33
PART II The FoundATIons oF The
AnIshInAAbe WoRldvIeW
3 silence and the Anishinaabe Worldview 55
4 The Quantum nature of the Anishinaabe language 81
PART III The AnIshInAAbe MInd
5 The Comic vision of the Anishinaabeg 123
6 The Comic Mind of the Anishinaabeg 137
PART Iv The AnIshInAAbe heART
7 storytelling in the Anishinaabe Context 155
8 Anishinaabe Rhetoric 169
viii Anishinaabe Ways of Knowing and Being
PART v The AnIshInAAbe sPIRIT

9 Bimaadiziwin, or the Good life of the Anishinaabeg 205
10 spiritual Growth in Anishinaabe society 225
PART vI beyond PosTAPoCAlyPse sTRess syndRoMe
11 Cultural sovereignty and the sacred stories of the
Anishinaabeg 249
Conclusion 263
Bibliography 269
Index 285
Foreword
Native American and indigenous people have been the subject of a long series
of studies since the emergence of the anthropological, historical, linguistic, and
philosophical disciplines in the nineteenth century. Since then, most of these
studies have been developed in line with the Western intellectual focus of the
academy. It is now accepted that during these early attempts, many distorted
depictions of indigenous groups were published as a means of justifying colonial
attitudes toward the peoples of this land. Since the civil rights movements of
the 1960s, there has been a consistent effort to develop native perspectives on
social justice, freedom of religion, land recovery, language revitalization, and the
preservation of religious belief systems. Indigenous and Native American scholars
and our non-Indian colleagues and allies are now addressing these issues through
developing the discourse on the inadequacy and inconsistency of past scholarly
research. Our work usually involves integrating Western academic disciplines,
which we are obligated to learn, with indigenous oral histories, sacred narratives,
oral traditions, and sacred landscape theory, as well as with an understanding that
the natural world is usually the basis of the belief system of the group in question,
together with the knowledge that every living entity is interconnected and
interdependent. Most Native American scholars working in a variety of disciplines
conduct fieldwork, do research on native languages, and, most importantly, create
the necessary links with the native communities under study with our concerns
for cultural survival. Lawrence W. Gross’s book, Anishinaabe Ways of Knowing and
Being, is an excellent example of this approach when he writes about collecting,
analyzing, and presenting very complex Anishinaabe data. As a Native American
scholar, he is unencumbered by that part of the American scholarly tradition
devoted to Anishinaabe ethnography, yet he is well versed in that literature. He
presents a new and clearly indigenous approach. For instance, part of Gross’s work
focuses on detailed analysis of the syntax of the Anishinaabe language and the
resulting relationship between the language and worldview of the Anishinaabeg.
This book should lead to intense discussions within the field since he takes
extremely clear positions by telling the reader repeatedly where he stands and why
he chose his specific analytic approach to the various topics he explores.