Kitchi Gami: Life Among The Lake Superior Ojibway (Borealis Books) [Paperback]

Johann G. Kohl (Author)

Book Description

Series: Borealis Books | Publication Date: October 1, 1985

Kitchi-Gami, Kohl's classic book on the Ojibway of Lake Superior, is a fascinating study in contrasts and similarities. Its author was an urbane, well-traveled European, a trained ethnologist, and an accomplished popular writer. Kohl turned his sensitive powers of observation on a nation of people he found not unlike his own. Perceptively and elegantly, he described daily life among the Ojibway, detailing religious practices, legends, foods, games, medicines, homes, clothing, and methods of travel, hunting, and fishing. Kohl's gentle humor and candor, and his respect for the Objiway people, anticipate later developments in American ethnology and make his writing especially appealing to the modern reader.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Kohl] "He studied their culture objectively, in contrast to missionaries of the time and to government people like Schoolcraft. He had no interest in their potential for becoming Christian farmers and studied their ceremonies and songs sympathetically. One of Kohl's special interests was the birchbark picture writing of the Ojibwa. He discussed the writings with as many Indians as possible and copied a number of birchbark 'books.' Several of those copies are reproduced in the book together with picture writing from gravestones and a gunstock-style war club.

The extent of Kohl's other observations is really amazing. They cover the fur trade, canoe building, domestic utensils, quillwork, native foods, hunting, fishing, trapping, cooking, toboggans, snowshoes, gardening, lodge building, games and warfare. We also learn some important things about voyageurs-their songs, work, attitudes toward life and relations with the Indians." -- The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 521 pages
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press (October 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873511727
• ISBN-13: 978-0873511728
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The way of the Ojibway, July 8, 2005

By 

Peter C Sorensen (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kitchi Gami: Life Among The Lake Superior Ojibway (Borealis Books) (Paperback)

If you want to know how the ojibway indians lived in the early 17th century (200 years after meeting the first europeans) this is the book to read. It is written in a very analytical way and it becomes very obvious that the Kohl falls in love with these people.

He explains how they make their canoes and wigwams. How they prepare their food. How and why they preform traditional fesitvals/initiations. He also gives a number of accounts on the stories of nanabojou, the main character in ojibway myth.

At the end of the book he remarks that the most interesting thing about these people is the stories of nanabojou. Not so much the actual stories, but the fact that he is their main mythological character and not worshipped like herakles or shiva or thor or gilgamesh were.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid first-hand account, October 29, 2007

By 

Scott Baker "Scott on the Spot" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kitchi Gami: Life Among The Lake Superior Ojibway (Borealis Books) (Paperback)

History is always evolving, of course. However, when it's possible to get a relatively unbiased first-hand account of a people, such as Kitchi Gami, it can be an invaluable research aid, as well as a unique look into the lives of its subjects. I used Kitchi Gami, along with other similar first hand accounts, like William Warren's personal account, "History of the Ojibway People" and George Nelson's "The Orders of the Dreamed" and Francis Densmore's "Chippewa Customs" extensively when writing my novel, Neitherworld (also on sale on Amazon). They all provide a nuanced feel for the language and customs of the time that is difficult to get from our removed time. Kitchi_gami, recompiled helpfully by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, is perhaps the largest of these treatments. The only complaint I have is that if one is trying to get a pre-colonial view of the Ojibway (or, Ojibwe, Ojibwa, or Chippewa - which are all the same nation of tribes), one won't find it here or in any of the other books mentioned. By definition, it is impossible to have both a European/American account of life among the Ojibway while at the same time, observing them before "contamination" by the European or American worlds. Mr. Kohl has to take his Ojibway as they come, which can in some cases mean taking a mixture of Christian and Ojibway beliefs, for example, when dealing with the origin of the Mide' - the religious order of the Ojibway. In this case, we might really have a better perspective on the original beliefs today than these early ethnographers had, due to additional evidence and the benefit of another century or so of analysis. However, if you want the "you are here" feeling, Kitchi Gami is definitely worth a look.