Anishinaabe clan system


The Anishinaabe, like most Algonquian-speaking groups in North America, base their system of kinship on clans or totems. The Ojibwe word for clan was borrowed into English as totem. The clans, based mainly on animals, were instrumental in traditional occupations, intertribal relations, and marriages. Today, the clan remains an important part of Anishinaabe identity. Each clan is forbidden from harming its representation animal by any means, as it is a bad omen to do so.

Tradition

The Anishinaabe peoples are divided into a number of doodeman, or clans, named mainly for animal totems. In Anishinaabemowin, ode' means heart. Doodem or clan literally translates as 'the expression of, or having to do with one's heart'; in other words, doodem refers to the extended family. According to written / oral tradition, the Anishinaabeg spanned the North Eastern Woodlands of Turtle Island. The origins of the Clans were given to the Getay-Anishinaabeg after the cleansing of the Earth by water, as the memory of people had been wiped clean. Anishinaabe Doodeman are the social fabric context for politics, kinship, and identity of the Anishinaabeg peoples.
The people established "a framework of social organization to give them strength and order" in which each totem represents a core branch of knowledge and responsibility essential to society. Today, seven general totems compose this framework. The crane and the loon are the leadership, responsible for over-seeing and leading the people. The fish are the scholars and mediators and are responsible for solving disputes between the crane and the loon. The bear are both police and medicine gatherers. The martens are hunters but warriors as well. The moose are mediators and exemplify peace. Clans are both a means of acquiring and retaining knowledge for the Anishinawbeg. Knowledge gained through experience and interactions with the natural world and other clan members is passed down and built upon through generations.
Traditionally, each band had democratic, independent councils consisting of leaders of the communities, with the group often identified by the principal doodem. In meeting others, the traditional greeting among the Ojibwe peoples is "What is your doodem?" in order to establish a social conduct between the two meeting parties as family. Marriage among members of the same clan is forbidden.

Etymology

The word odoodem is a dependent noun. When speaking of one's own doodem, the Anishinaabe would say nindoodem, gidoodem for addressees and odoodeman for others.

Pedagogy

The clan system is an integral part of acquiring and retaining knowledge for the Anishinaabe. Each clan contributes a key element to the society and individual members contribute to a clan’s knowledge through experience. During a clan member’s lifetime, they are able to gain knowledge known by the clan; emphasis is placed on personal experience, rather than a strict student-teacher relationship. Although members learn through relationships with other clan members, it is the experience gained as a result of these relationships that allows them to attain knowledge. Throughout a clan member’s life, knowledge they gain that was previously unknown to the clan is added to the clan’s collective knowledge. This knowledge is then passed down to future generations, contributing to the "flow of Nebwakawin that passes from generation to generation".
Despite pressure from the colonial society in Canada and the United States, much Anishinaabe knowledge has survived and continues to be shared and built upon. Alexander Wolfe's Earth Elder 18 Stories: The Pinayzitt Path, Dr. Dan Musqua's The Seven Fires: Teachings of the Bear Clan, and Edward Benton-Banai's The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway are a few notable works of Anishinaabe literature. These publications are important carriers of knowledge that pass from the ancestors to future generations.

Clan totems

There were at least twenty-one Ojibwe totems in all, recorded by William Whipple Warren. Other recorders, such as John Tanner, list many fewer but with different doodem types. For the Potawatomi, at least 15 different totems were recorded. The clan types today are quite extensive, but usually only a handful of odoodeman are found in each of the Anishinaabe communities. Like any other All Anishinawbeg speaking peoples, the Anishinawbeg clan system served as a system of social weave as well as a means of dividing labour. The clan groups or phratries are listed below, listing each of the doodem clans or gentes within their group. The known Anishinawbeg clans are listed below.

''Bimaawidaasi'' group

The Bimaawidaasi group was charged with scouting, hunting and gathering.
  • "Hooves" subdivision:
  • * Moozwaanowe
  • * Moozens or Moozoons or Moozonii
  • * Mooz
  • * Adik — The Adik totem is common among the Ojibwa and north of Lake Superior. A prominent family from this doodem from the Grand Portage area relocated to La Pointe and produced the chiefs Mamongazeda and Waubojeeg. Later members of this branch became leaders at Sault Ste. Marie.
  • * Waawaashkeshi
  • * Mishewe
  • ** Omashkooz
  • ** Eshkan
  • * Bizhiki
  • "Little Paws" subdivision:
  • * Waabizheshi Image:Martendoodem.jpg|This pictographic 1849 petition shows an Ojibwa chief represented by the Marten doodem.|right|thumb|271px
  • * Amik
  • * Wazhashk
  • * Gaag
  • * Esiban
  • * Waabooz
  • * Zhaangweshi
  • * Waagoshiinh
  • * Zhigaag
  • * ''Asanagoo''

    ''Giishkizhigwan'' group

The Giishkizhigwan group was charged with teaching and healing.
  • Giigoonh or Namens
  • * Wawaazisii or Owaazisii
  • * Maanameg
  • * Adikameg
  • * Namebin
  • * Numaii or Maame
  • * Ginoozhe
  • Mikinaak
  • * Mishiikenh
  • * Miskwaadesi
  • Ginebig
  • * Omazaandamo
  • * Midewewe or Ozhiishiigwe, or Zhiishiigwaan
  • Omakakii
  • Nigig
  • Nibiinaabe
  • ''Ashaageshiinh''

    ''Nooke'' group

The Nooke group was responsible for defense and healing. Though today the Bear Clan has all merged into a single clan known as Nooke, at one time the Bear was the largest — so large, in fact, that it was sub-divided into body parts such as the head, the ribs and the feet, as well as different types of bears such as the Waabishki-makwa or 'white black bear' and the Mishimakwa or 'grizzly bear'.
  • Makwa
  • *Makoshtigwaan
  • *Nookezid
  • * Makokon
  • * Miskwaa'aa
  • * Waabishki-makwa
  • * Mishimakwa
  • Bizhiw
  • Ma'iingan or ''Mawii'aa''

    ''Baswenaazhi'' group

The Baswenaazhi group were traditionally charged with outgoing International communications. Because of this, often members of the Baswenaazhi group are said to be the most vocal.
  • Binesi
  • * Ajijaak
  • ** Nesawaakwaad
  • * Ashagi
  • * Gekek
  • * Omigizi
  • ** Mitigomizh
  • ** Wiigwaas
  • * Giniw
  • * Bibiigiwizens
  • * ''Makade-gekek''

    ''Bemaangik'' group

The Bemaangik are charged with internal/domestic communications. They were often charged with the community's own council fires and facilitating dialogue on all internal/domestic issues.
  • Bineshiinh
  • * Aan'aawenh
  • * Owewe
  • * Bine or Aagask
  • * Nika
  • * Maang
  • * Zhiishiib
  • * Gayaashk
  • * Jiwiiskwiiskiwe
  • * Omooshka'oozi
  • * Zhedeg
  • * Ogiishkimanisii
  • * Aandeg
  • * Gaagaagishiinh
  • * Omiimii
  • * ''Apishi-gaagaagi''

    Metaphors

On occasion, instead of referring to the totem by the actual being's name, a clan is identified instead by a metaphor describing the characteristic of the clan's totem. The metaphors that survive today include:
  • Bimaawidaasi 'carrier' = Amik 'beaver'
  • Giishkizhigwan 'cut-tail' = Maanameg 'catfish'
  • Nooke 'tender' = Makwa 'bear'
  • Baswenaazhi 'echo-maker' = Ajijaak 'crane'
  • Bemaangik 'pass-by sounder' = Owewe 'wild goose'

    Social order

Some national sub-divisions were simply referred to by their major clan component. An example of this would be the Maandawe-doodem of the Meshkwahkihaki peoples who live along the south shore of Lake Superior. Further inland from the Maandawe-doodem were the Waagosh-doodem of the Meshkwahkihaki. When the Maandawe were defeated in a major battle between the Ojibwe and the Meshkwahkihaki peoples, the surviving Maandawe were adopted as part of the Ojibwa nation, but instead as the Waabizheshi-doodem. Among some of the Ojibwe people, the Waabizheshi clan is also used to denote a form of adoption, i.e., a non-native father and Ojibwe mother. In other instances, for example odoodem communities such as the Amikwaa, they were treated as fully interdependent Nations of the Anishinaabeg Confederacy, or given a designation to represent their primary function in the social order, as with the Manoominikeshiinyag or the Waawaashkeshi-ininiwag.
Some doodem indicate non-Ojibwe origins. Other than Waabizheshi, these include the Ogiishkimanisii-doodem and Ma'iingan-doodem for Dakota and Migizi-doodem for Americans. There are other odoodem considered rare today among the Ojibwa because the odoodem have migrated into other tribes, such as the Nibiinaabe-doodem, which shows up as the Water-spirits Clan of the Winnebagoes.