The Chippewas/Ojibwe Tribes

Douglas Dalton
Professor Bober
ANTH 3440
6 March 2018

History of The Chippewas/Ojibwe Tribes

History and Culture
Ojibwe, or Chippewa, tribe of Native Americans does not have the same share of recognition in the modern culture, despite being one of the largest one in terms of population size and. A tribe of nomads that were always moving along with the weather, ready and willing to adapt to new circumstances, they similarly attempted to adapt to the invasion of the European settlers between 18th and 19th centuries. Even though they have had a moderate amount of success in that adaptation, as they have established relatively successful trade agreements with French settlers, that cooperation eventually came back to haunt them, as they were

The lived in small groups that were called bands, usually comprised of up to four hundred people. in each band, there was a chief, and each chief had a council selected from the elderly of the band. The chief along with the council were the lawmakers of the band as they were the one who settled arguments, distributed punishment, and hunting or fishing rights. In addition to the band, the other way in which Ojibwe were differentiated is clans. "Each dodaim [totem] was made up of people who shared the same ancestors. An Ojibwe person belonged to the dodaim of his or her father. Dodaim members thought of one another as relatives" (Levine 8). Clans or totems were the groups of Ojibwe’s who had same ancestors. Members of one totem didn't necessarily have to live in one band and could be spread out among them. Clans were not simply a product of traditions, they had a function as well. To a bigger or lesser extent, each clan specialized in one trade. For instance, teachers would often descend from catfish clan, while natural leaders were raised in crane

"Historically, tobacco was used in medicinal and healing rituals, in ceremonial or religious practices, and as an instructional or educational device" (Struthers and Hodge, 209). Tobacco was used as a ward to protect sick people from evil spirits and each important meeting or council was initiated by the ritual of tobacco smoking. Ojibwe believed that tobacco was one of the first things that were given to them by the Creator, a higher being, equivalent of Christian God. By the legends of the tribe, when Creator made the first man, he told him that it would not be possible for him to contact the creator director. Instead, he would have to use the special plant, smoke it, and in the smokes would be revealed the answers to the questions that the man would ask the creator. That plant was called kinnimick - a special kind of herb that people of Ojibwe use as the main ingredient of their smoking blend. While for most of their time, people of Ojibwe used kinnimick exclusively, in modern times, only a few, predominately those of older generations, still harvest and use kinnimick, whilst the majority had switched to mass-produced tobacco