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Midewiwin is the name given to the sacred Medicine Society of the Native peoples of the Great Lakes, the Anishinawbe. q-he Midewiwin is an important repository of native culture as regards spiritual and therapeutic knowledge, music, singing and dancing, identity and social unity. It also hosts rites of passage, gift exchange and manifestations of solidarity. Midewiwin ceremony is currently performed by various groups of Anishinawbe traditionalists in the US and Canada. This paper investigates the often difficult relations between anthropologists and native specialists throughout the centuries, based on a review of the literature produced in the course of contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The place of birth is a part of the political landscape of Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. This paper explores the notion of birth place and the relationship between Aboriginal people and the land and water through the notion of 'carrying water'. Based on qualitative interviews with elder women who practice Midewiwin ceremony, this paper explores ceremonies surrounding birth and the relationship that is created through these practices. By understanding the importance of the continuance of ceremony for individuals and communities, a new understanding of the current state of maternity care in Aboriginal communities emerges and extends to broader discourses of indigenous rights. The paper concludes that in the ceremonial practices of a group of Aboriginal women in Manitoba, the generalized discourse of realizing rights becomes an intimate and complex process of place making through the relationship of bodies and landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock-art research offers to archaeology a problem-oriented approach. A case study is presented on the interpretation of rock-art from informed ethnographic and formal archaeological perspectives regarding the origins of the Midewiwin, or ‘Grand Medicine Society’. The evidence is twofold. First, some of the rock-paintings that are found over a wide range of the southern Canadian Shield appear to be representative of the Midewiwin. Second, the most probable age estimation of those rock-paintings indicates that the antiquity of Midewiwin is greater than generally presumed by the key anthropological reference literature of the region. Rather than a relatively recent ‘revitalization movement’, the origins of the Midewiwin began in remote antiquity. Broad theoretical and methodological issues of cognitive archaeology and the crisis of representation are addressed, particularly classification, colonialism and cultural linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Howey and O'Shea (2006) believe they have demonstrated the prehistoric manifestation of a particular Ojibwa Midewiwin origin story in the arrangement of features at an archaeological site in Michigan, thereby negating ethnohistorical arguments that the Midewiwin was of post-European-contact origin. The authors also believe they have shown that explaining past ritual behavior "can be derived from archaeological data alone." There is ample information in their own argument to disallow such claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses about the life and works of Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau. According to the article, Morrisseau was born in 1931 at Sandy Lake Reserve in the northwestern part of Ontario. He grew up alongside his Anishnaabe grandparents. It was the Midewiwin society's trait of making sacred drawings on birchbark panels that depicts and record their oral traditions and initiation rites that became Morrisseau's pictorial influences in becoming an artist. It says that Morrisseau was criticized by local elders for exposing their sacred images to mainstream art. Certain works of Morrisseau were reflected including, "White Man's Curse", "The Gift" and "The Land", paintings which expresses meaning through bodily form and aesthetics reflecting Midewiwin influences.

Analyzes the application of the Midewiwin conceptual framework of stories to Gerald Vizenor's novel "The Heirs of Columbus." Discussion on the elements of the Midewinin creation story; Interpretation of the story of Columbus as the creation story of European dominance in the U.S.; Illustration of how elaboration acts to reshape the dominant narrative of Christopher Columbus.

Examines the role of owls in the life of the Ojibwa and the Midewiwin. Types of owls that figure prominently in Ojibwa stories; Characteristics of owls according to the Ojibwa; Significance of owls in the life of the Ojibwa.

Examines notes on the post-contact origin of the Midewiwin. Description of the medicine society; Community affairs; Religious and cultural history.