Summary
Wetiko is a word from the Algonquian languages – wīhtikōw in Cree, wiindigoo in Ojibwe, ‘wendigo’ in English – for a malevolent, cannibalistic spirit tied to winter, famine and insatiable greed. In some traditions a person overpowered by greed can become one, so the stories taught moderation and cooperation. For the Ojibwe, Cree, Innu and other peoples it belongs to a living body of belief and ceremony.
Some Native American thinkers also use it as a concept, for any person, idea or movement driven by self-serving greed, colonialism included. The best-known statement is Jack D. Forbes’s ‘Columbus and Other Cannibals’, which treats exploitation and imperialism as a wétiko sickness.
Rationale
Our articles don’t use the word. It resonates as an older diagnosis of what Part 1 says separation breeds – “competition, extraction, domination” – though wetiko speaks of sickness where we speak of habit.