Review by Choice Review
A. I. Hallowell (1892-1974) was one of the leading anthropologists in the US, particularly noted for his decade (1930-40) of fieldwork with central Manitoba Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe). His guide for both the physical and social terrain was Chief William Berens, grandson of a famous healer-conjuror--although his parents became Christians. Berens was notably intelligent and knowledgeable about his people's culture and history, yet willing to bend taboos (e.g., not telling myths in summer). Rapport between the two men provided rich data informing Hallowell's theoretical discussions. Above all, Hallowell strove to comprehend the Anishinaabeg worldview, convey it intelligibly in English, and test Western psychology against Anishinaabeg understanding and behavior. Brown's and Gray's more recent research into Manitoba First Nations and historical documents informs their very helpful, concise introductions and notes to this first compendium of Hallowell's Anishinaabeg publications (two earlier, out-of-print collections were not exclusively of his Anishinaabeg work). Brown earlier edited Hallowell's "lost" ethnographic case study The Ojibwa of Berens River, Manitoba (1992). This volume is incomparably richer, a deeply interesting revelation of a world that readers, along with Hallowell, can walk into and only slowly come to see and experience as do these subsistence hunter-fisher and plant-harvester northern people. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. A. B. Kehoe University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
