Contested Vernacularization: Kahkewaquonaby Peter Jones and the First Published Translations of the Gospels in Anishinaabemowin, 1825–1832

Abstract Between 1825 and 1832, the Anishinaabe missionary Kahkewaquonaby Peter Jones produced the first published translations of the Christian Gospels into the Anishinaabe language. These publications, particularly the two different versions of the Gospel of Matthew published in 1829 and 1832, present an opportunity to compare opposing approaches to Bible translation. Jones’s 1829 translation of Matthew, published essentially independently, adopted the approach that this article calls radical vernacularization. This translation sought to fully indigenize the Christian message by framing it in preexisting Anishinaabe vocabulary, including terms already used to describe important Anishinaabe spiritual and social practices. The 1832 translation, on the other hand, underwent heavy editorial oversight and instead illustrates the approach that this article calls limited vernacularization. The two English-born editors appointed to revise Jones’s work repudiated his original vision by excising many Anishinaabe terms and replacing them with simple English borrowings, thus rejecting the idea that Christianity could be communicated within a principally Anishinaabe framework. Long overlooked as historical sources, these translations effectively illustrate the struggles surrounding translation, evangelization, “civilization,” and Indigenous survival in nineteenth-century North America.