Innus, a people through history
This article aims to prove the vivid filiation of contemporary Innus with their prehistoric ancestors. One might think that this is an unnecessary task as today’s innu language, in continuity with that of the 17th century, is still spoken. Yet, with the prevalent belief of the “vanished Indian” in historiography, one still has to demonstrate the mechanisms 1) by which the blindness towards the Other occurred 2) and by which the Innu society was maintained over time. Political organization was none of a structure in the Innu society. Kinship and common cosmology rather sealed the social unity. Epidemics and wars heavily fell upon the Innus, yet probably less so than on their native neighbours. The Innus reacted to these dismantling factors by reunifying their families through adoption and assimilation of widows and orphans.