Understanding conversion to Jehovism among Indigenous peoples: The case of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg

Abstract

Although present in Aboriginal communities since the early 1930s, Jehovism among Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States has not yet been the subject of any published ethnographic, sociological, or historical study. This article presents the result of the first ethnographic study with Jehovah’s Witnesses among Aboriginal peoples in Canada. From an online field of research spanning over a period of 10 months with Anishinabe (Algonquin) Witnesses from Kitigan Zibi (Outaouais, Quebec), I explore the motivations behind the decision to become a Jehovah’s Witness for the latter. I also show that the first conversions in Kitigan Zibi are mainly due to a dual historical context that created a fertile ground for conversion. Finally, I propose the concept of ‘small-scale conversion’ as another way to conceive the intergenerational transmission of religion.