Living with Animals: Ojibwe Spirit Powers - Softcover

Pomedli, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 144261479X ISBN 13: 9781442614796

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2014

Synopsis

Within nineteenth-century Ojibwe/Chippewa medicine societies, and in communities at large, animals are realities and symbols that demonstrate cultural principles of North American Ojibwe nations. Living with Animals presents over 100 images from oral and written sources – including birch bark scrolls, rock art, stories, games, and dreams – in which animals appear as kindred beings, spirit powers, healers, and protectors.

Michael Pomedli shows that the principles at play in these sources are not merely evidence of cultural values, but also unique standards brought to treaty signings by Ojibwe leaders. In addition, these principles are norms against which North American treaty interpretations should be reframed. The author provides an important foundation for ongoing treaty negotiations, and for what contemporary Ojibwe cultural figures corroborate as ways of leading a good, integrated life.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Pomedli is an emeritus professor of Philosophy at St Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan.

Review

“Pomedli’s book is a work of careful, well-documented scholarship on animal symbolism in the Ojibwe Midewiwin, an important topic which has not been much addressed by earlier scholars. The author has clearly done an enormous amount of careful research, gathering information from many kinds of sources, including traditional narratives, birchbark scrolls and petroglyphs, and textiles and other media.”

(Lawrence Martin, Professor Emeritus of American Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire)

“Living with Animals is the work of a mature scholar, based on years of experience in the field. Pomedli’s unique methodology has applications in Native Studies beyond the discussion of Algonquian culture.”

(J. Douglas Rabb, co-author of 'Indian from the Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal')

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 144261479X
• ISBN 13: 9781442614796
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384