Dangerous Spirits: The Windigo in Myth and History

by Shawn Smallman

Overview

In the traditional Algonquian world, the windigo is the spirit of selfishness, which can transform a person into a murderous cannibal. Native peoples over a vast stretch of North America—from Virginia in the south to Labrador in the north, from Nova Scotia in the east to Minnesota in the west—believed in the windigo, not only as a myth told in the darkness of winter, but also as a real danger.

Drawing on oral narratives, fur traders' journals, trial records, missionary accounts, and anthropologists’ field notes, this book is a revealing glimpse into indigenous beliefs, cross-cultural communication, and embryonic colonial relationships. It also ponders the recent resurgence of the windigo in popular culture and its changing meaning in a modern context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772030334
Publisher:	Heritage House
Publication date:	11/07/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	756,971
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Shawn Smallmanis a professor of International Studies at Portland State University. He received his PhD in history from Yale University and is the author of three critically acclaimed academic books, Fear and Memory in the Brazilian Army and Society, The AIDS Pandemic in Latin America, and (with Kim Brown) An Introduction to International and Global Studies. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 8

Glossary 11

Foreword 15

Introduction 20

Chapter 1 The Windigo in Traditional and Contemporary Narratives 33

Chapter 2 "More Than a Canine Hunger" Frontier Encounters with the Windigo, 1636-1916 79

Chapter 3 "Stunned, Teased and Tormented" Missionaries and the Windigo, 1818-1960 110

Chapter 4 Prisons, Mental Asylums, and Residential Schools 141

Conclusion 173

Notes 177

Works Cited 205

Index 215

Editorial Reviews

"Dangerous Spirits is a fascinating look at the stories of the Windigo heard by early missionaries, fur traders, colonial officials, and legal authorities, and those told by Native elders. Smallman has written a book that is highly readable and well researched." —Nelle OosteromCanada's History

"Dangerous Spirits is a fascinating look at the stories of the Windigo heard by early missionaries, fur traders, colonial officials, and legal authorities, and those told by Native elders. Smallman has written a book that is highly readable and well researched."

—Nelle Oosterom , Canada's History

"The author covers a vast range of topics about wetigos, including historical references and their presence in popular literature. This is a well-written book, and the only way one can properly describe it is 'fascinating.'" —Alberta History

From the Publisher