Anishinaabe Social Movement - Essay Example

Anishinaabe social issues and social movements Introduction Anishinaabe from traditional point of view refers to “good people” or "the good humans", which translate to people who are on the right path or course that were given to by the Gichi-Manidoo (Creator or Great Spirit). This is the names given to four ethnic groups as identified by outsiders or by the group itself and based on geographical location. The four ethnic groups are Ojibwa, Algonquin, and Odawa in Ontario, North America (Pitawanakwat, 2009).

The Anishinaabe (Anishinaabeg in plural) is the exonyms and endonyms often used by the four groups of North America but their name vary from region to region. Anishinaabe children as their first language learn Anishinaabemowin directly from their parents.Where are we at and where we have come fromAnishinaabe and Anishinini distribution started around 1800 to 1900. The spelling of the name Anishinaabe varied greatly with variants ending in -eg/ek for example in Anishinaabeg and Anishinabek) originate from plural of Algonquian, while those that end in an -e originate from a singular of Algonquian.

The primary cause of loss or decline of indigenous language such as Anishinaabe in North America is the onset of European colonization and wars in 1492 to 1776. In 1637, for example Pequot war almost brings Pequots to extinction and led to influx of pilgrims who took the land (Simpson, 2000). In 1641 colonists from Europe introduced scalping by giving bounties for Indian scalps. Ojibwe pushed downward along the sides of Lake Huron during these conflicts with the Iroquois and by the end of 1701 they controlled major parts of southern Ontario and Lower Michigan.

The Ojibwe, who have been spreading westward for generations, arrive at the land currently called Minnesota. They came across the forest-dwelling people of Dakota occupying there already. The further spread of the Ojibwe group into Wisconsin and Minnesota resulted in contact with the Eastern, or Santee Dakota. In the War of 1812 (1812-1814) America declared the war on British Empire and as a result French and Brits are no longer threats as Anishinaabe autonym. The Treaty of Prairie du Chien established border between Ojibwe and Dakota in the Michigan territory (Minnesota) on August 19, 1825.

The Ojibwe people moved to the current homes in Prairie Provinces of Canada where they are calling themselves Nakawē.In an attempt to spread languages of European in the Americas were driven by the desire of colonists’ in push for administrative efficiency, and have now condemned the cultural and racial European supremacy notions (Lipsitz, 2008). After dispossession of their lands and the fact that they were defenseless against these Europeans, native people suffered massive declines in population and language disintegration.

Also the Ancient ties that bound native people their histories, their ancestral lands, their ceremonies and their languages were attacked instantaneously: Native ceremonies were banned by legislation, native children were forced to attend residential schools of assimilative and whole communities were forcibly exiled from their traditional territories onto reserves that currently forms their homes (Gross, 2014). Currently the anti-clear cutting activism of Anishinaabe is characterized by a succession of local dialects that is associated which lack political or linguistic unity among this group speaking Ojibwe.

Despite the effect of European language from colonization, Anishinaabe is the second First Nations language in Canada most commonly spoken after the Cree and is the fourth most extensively spoken in the United States and Canada only after Inuit Cree and Navajo. ReferencesGross, L. (2014). Anishinaabe Ways; Vitality of Indigenous Religions. Michigan. Ashgate PublishingLipsitz, G. (2008). Walleye warriors and white identities: Native Americans’ treaty rights, composite identities and social movements.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 101-122.Pitawanakwat, B. (2009). Anishinaabemodaa Pane Oodenang: A qualitative study of Anishinaabe language revitalization as self-determination in Manitoba and Ontario. University of Victoria.Simpson, L. (2000). Anishinaabe ways of knowing. Aboriginal health, identity, and resources, 165-185.