Cannibalizing the Wiindigo: The Wiindigog in Anishinaabeg and Oji-Cree Boreal Landscapes and Its Re-presentations in Popular Culture

• Published in: Literatura Ludowa
• Main Author: Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Polish; Russian
• Published: Polish Ethnological Society 2022
• Subjects: Wiindigo; customary governance; food systems; Canada; Anishinaabe; Oji-Cree; Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology; GN301-674; Language and Literature; P; Literature (General); PN1-6790; algonquin; anishina*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.12775/LL.3.2022.003; https://doaj.org/article/1c4af6c0c6e342aaa2192fc34f1e1357

This paper will discuss the Wiindigo, a cannibalistic character among some Indigenous peoples of North America. Illustrated through the Anishinaabeg and Oji-Cree, two Algonquin-speaking Indigenous groups, the Wiindigo serves as a personification of fear and hunger, and alludes to the cultural heritage elements of the boreal forest food system as well as the differing legal systems in Canada. In examining the Wiindigo from the Indigenous cultural and historical perspectives related to the author by several knowledge-holders, as well as from EuroCanadian popular culture representations, the paper illustrates the importance of the Wiindigo to Anishinaabe and Oji-Cree world views, customary governance, and contemporary lived experience.