Anishinabe People

The **Anishinabe** (alternatively spelled **Anicinape**, **Nishnaabe**, **Neshnabé**, **Anishinabeg**, **Anishinabek**) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing and Algonquin peoples. The Anishinabe speak *Anishinabemowin*, or Anishinabe languages that belong to the Algonquian language family.

At the time of first contact with Europeans they lived in the Northeast Woodlands and Subarctic, and some have since spread to the Great Plains.

The word Anishinabe is often mistakenly considered a synonym of Ojibwe. However, Anishinabe refers to a much larger group of tribes.

## Name

ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯ *Anishinabe* has many different spellings. Different spelling systems may indicate vowel length or spell certain consonants differently (*Anishinabe*, *Anicinape*); meanwhile, variants ending in -*eg/ek* (*Anishinabeg*, *Anishinabek*) come from an Algonquian plural, while those ending in an -*e* come from an Algonquian singular.

The name *Anishinabe* is sometimes shortened to *Nishnaabe*, mostly by Odawa people. The cognate *Neshnabé* comes from the Potawatomi, a people long allied with the Odawa and Ojibwe in the Council of Three Fires. The Nipissing, Mississaugas, and Algonquin are identified as Anishinabe but are not part of the Council of Three Fires.

Closely related to the Ojibwe and speaking a language mutually intelligible with *Anishinabemowin* (Anishinabe language) is the Oji-Cree (also known as "Severn Ojibwe"). Their most common autonym is *Anishinini* (plural: *Anishininiwag*) and they call their language *Anishininiimowin*.

Among the Anishinabe, the Ojibwe collectively call the Nipissings and the Algonquins *Odishkwaagamii* (those who are at the end of the lake), while those among the Nipissings who identify themselves as Algonquins call the Algonquins proper *Omàmiwinini* (those who are downstream).

Not all Anishinabemowin-speakers call themselves Anishinabe. The Ojibwe people who migrated to what are now the prairie provinces of Canada call themselves *Nakawē(-k)* and call their branch of the Anishinabemowin *Nakawēmowin*. (The French ethnonym for the group is *Saulteaux*). Particular Anishinabeg groups have different names from region to region.

## Clans

The Anishinabe use of the clan system represents familial, spiritual, economic and political relations between members of their communities. Often an animal is used to represent a person's clan or *dodem* but plants and other spirit beings are sometimes used as well. The word *dodem* means "the heart or core of a person." There are different teachings about how many clans there are and which are clans in leadership positions. This is due to the de-centralized mode of governance that the Anishinabe practice. Each person is a self-determining authority and it is their duty to uphold their own roles and responsibilities for the wellbeing of *all our relations*. This is understood as the "Law of Non-interference." Nobody can interfere with another being's path unless they are causing great harm to another or themselves.

Within the Anishinabe governance structure there are seven leader clans that each facilitate a specific role and have responsibilities within the community and to the rest of Creation. Within each grouping of clans are seven clans. This means there are a total of 49 total Anishinabe clans.

1. *Waawaakeshi* (Deer)
	* *Zaagi'idiwin* (Love)
2. *Maang* (Loon)
	* *Debaadendiziwin* (Humility)
3. *Migizi* (Bald Eagle)
	* *Debwewin* (Truth)
4. *Makwa* (Bear)
	* *B'Maadziwin* (Good Life or Balanced Life)
5. *Ajijaak* (Crane)
	* *Mnaadendimowin* (Respect)
6. *Waabizheshii* (Martin)
	* *Aakedhwin* (Bravery)
7. *Mshiikenh* (Turtle)
	* *Nbwaakaawin* (Wisdom)

The clan system is integral to the Anishinabe governance structure and to the Anishinabe way of life as well as spiritual practices. People of the same clan are forbidden from getting married or having intimate relations as this would spell doom for the clan as a whole.