Poverty is a big issue today, and it goes all the way back to the Anishnaabe peoples. The traditional Anishnaabe societies didn't really have poverty, as they lived off the resources of the land, mainly through sharing between their community and hunting game, (Anderson & Moratto, 1996). If the traditional Anishnaabe societies did have to face the issue of poverty, I think that they would have addressed the issue by increasing hunting and increasing trade between different tribes. Traditional Anishnaabe peoples relationship to the land was defined by the way their needs were met. They survived off of the land, and they treated the land, animals, and plants with respect, (Anderson & Moratto, 1996).
The traditional Anishnaabe societies didn't really face the issue of poverty because they lived off of the land and the resources that were available to them, (Fisher, 2002). They mainly hunted for food and they shared resources between all in their community. Traditional Anishnaabe societies were very self-sufficient. Native Americans "were sustained by hunting, fishing and trading," (Anderson & Moratto, 1996). This was necessary to "meet their requirements for firewood, fish and game, vegetal foods, craft supplies, and building materials," (Anderson & Moratto, 1996). They mainly hunted deer, elk, moose, rabbit, beaver, fish, bison and buffalo. They used this game for food to feed the community and their families. The women in the community gathered plants for food and seeds to garden (Fisher, 2002). They used the resources they had to build shelter, and they made their clothing out of pelts and fur. The traditional Anishnaabe societies moved around a lot throughout the year, as they moved with the herds of animals so they could make sure that they would always be able to find game to feed their community (Anderson & Moratto, 1996). Traditional Anishnaabe societies were very self sufficient, mainly through sharing between all in the community, and hunting game for food. Because of this, they didn't really ever have to address the issue of poverty.
I think that if the traditional Anishnaabe societies did have to face the issue of poverty, they would probably have many different ways to address it. Poverty for traditional Anishnaabe peoples would probably be defined as extremely scarce resources, because we all know that they lived off of the land and their needs were met through the resources from the land. If traditional Anishnaabe societies had to address the issue of poverty, I think that they would mainly increase their hunting, and start to increase trade between other tribes on the land. In the past, "artifact collectors frequently found that poverty made native people willing sellers," (Fisher, 2002). I think that the traditional Anishnaabe societies would have to involve everyone in their community in hunting game, to gain the necessary proteins needed to survive. All resources of the land weren't always available, as the different seasons affected what resources were available and when. For example, fish only spawn in certain rivers at certain times of the year, herds move around the land a lot, and berries are not always available throughout the year. Therefore, they would have to move around a lot more to find the resources that they would need for survival. The different seasons of the year affected the traditional Anishnaabe peoples health, amount of food, diet, and living conditions. The Anishnaabe peoples would have to increase hunting and gathering plants to store extra food to make sure they could survive the winter, when resources are scarce. Increased hunting would be essential to the traditional Anishnaabe peoples to gain the necessary proteins to survive, if they had to address the issue of poverty. If they had to address the issue of poverty, they would also probably start to increase trade between themselves and other tribes, to obtain the resources that they needed to survive. If one traditional Anishnaabe society was struggling with poverty, I would take a guess that other Anishnaabe societies living off the land would also be struggling to obtain the essential resources they needed to survive, so they would probably be willing to increase trade with other societies to gain those resources that they needed and others had. If traditional Anishnaabe societies did have to address the issue of poverty in the past, I would guess that they would of addressed it by increasing hunting and increasing trade between other tribes on the land.
For the traditional Anishnaabe societies, life was about worshipping the Creator, hunting game, gathering plants, building fires, travelling, building shelter, socializing, trading goods and obtaining resources. Fire was essential for the traditional Anishnaabe societies to survive, and knowledge about the environment and survival skills were passed down through generations. They learned to live off of the land, and use the resources that were available to them. Traditional Anishnaabe societies didn't really ever have to address the issue of poverty, except for the times that resources were very scarce.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment