User:Matthew R Perry/sandbox

Tradition[edit]
The Anishinaabe peoples are divided into a number of doodeman, or clans, (singular: doodem) named mainly for animal totems (or doodem, as an Ojibwe person would say this word in English). In Anishinaabemowin, Lake Superior dialect "ode" means heart. "Doodem" or clan literally would translate as the expression of, or having to do with one's heart; in other words doodem refers to the extended family. According to oral tradition, the Anishinaabe were living along the Atlantic Ocean coast and the great Miigis beings appeared out the sea and taught the Mide way of life to the Waabanakiing peoples, six of the seven great Miigis beings that remained to teach established the odoodeman for the peoples in the east. The five original Anishinaabe totems were Wawaazisii (bullhead), Baswenaazhi (echo-maker, i.e., crane), Aan'aawenh (pintail duck), Nooke (tender, i.e., bear) and Moozwaanowe ("little" moose-tail).

The totems established "a framework of government to give them strength and order" in which each totem represents a core branch of knowledge and responsibility essential to society. Today, six general totems compose this framework. The crane and the loon are the chiefs, responsible for over-seeing and leading the people. The fish are the scholars and thinkers and are responsible for solving disputes between the crane and the loon. The bear is both the physician and the police. The martins are the warriors. The moose are craftsman and artists. Clans are both a means of acquiring and retaining knowledge for the Anishinaabe. Knowledge gained through experience and interactions with the Spirits and other clan members is passed down and built upon through generations.

Traditionally, each band had a self-regulating council consisting of leaders of the communities' clans or odoodeman, with the band often identified by the principle doodem. In meeting others, the traditional greeting among the Ojibwe peoples is "What is your doodem?" ("Aaniin odoodemaayan?") in order to establish a social conduct between the two meeting parties as family. Marriage among members of the same clan is forbidden.

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 (wisdom) 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.