Bears Treated Not Exactly As 'Pets' But Rather As 'Human Children'

This short essay is an excerpt and preview from a larger study in which ethnographic and ethnohistorical data sets, based on traditions, rituals and performances of Native Peoples, are analyzed with the goal of exploring aspects of the animist relational ontology implicit in them. The focus is on the performances and beliefs of the Algonquian people and how they compare to certain European performances. At the same time, the way that bear cubs were perceived not merely as "pets" but as "human children" is discussed.