Ethnology, Ojibwa, Leadership 

"During the seventeenth century some branches of the Ojibwa moved southwestward from Ontario into northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The richer environment made possible larger, more dense population as well as social elaboration. However, certain social and cultural characteristics had developed as a response to the environment of the northern forests and had limited the development of political organization. In the new environment the most important ecological features were cultural: the development of the fur trade and dependency upon manufactured goods, continuous warfare with the Sioux and, finally, the major land cessions and eventual settlement upon reservations with extremely limited economic resources and even more limited political autonomy.

Political organization and the problems of leadership imposed by the social and cultural context against the differing backgrounds of the late pre-reservation period and the contemporary reservation are examined. In both periods the major characteristics were the segmentary character of the Ojibwa social structure, the restrictions of a limited economic base, a decision-making process based upon egalitarianism and consensual democracy, a pervasive distrust in interpersonal relations, a fear of those possessing power, and a lack of features requiring continuing, large-scale cooperation over a long period of time. The dynamics of the system are examined in two critical phases, that period during which the major land cessions were made, and the contemporary period, when substantial funds and powers were given to the reservation committees under the anti-poverty program."--page 7. 

36 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm. 

Includes bibliographical references.