Recollecting: Lives of Aboriginal Women of the Canadian Northwest and Borderlands (The West Unbound: Social and Cultural Studies)

Recollecting is a rich collection of essays that illuminates the lives of late-eighteenth-century to mid-twentieth-century Aboriginal women, who have been overlooked in sweeping narratives of the history of the West. Some essays focus on individuals - a trader, a performer, a non-human woman. Other essays examine cohorts of women - wives, midwives, seamstresses, nuns. Authors look beyond the documentary record and standard representations of women, drawing on records generated by the women themselves, including their beadwork, other material culture, and oral histories. Exploring the constraints and boundaries these women encountered, the authors engage with difficult and important questions of gender, race, and identity. Collectively these essays demonstrate the complexity of contact zone interactions, and they enrich and challenge dominant narratives about histories of the Canadian Northwest. Front Matter 1 Table of Contents 5 List of Illustrations 7 Acknowledgments 9 Map of the North American West 12 Lifelines: Searching for Aboriginal Women of the Northwest and Borderlands / Sarah Carter and Patricia A. McCormack 15 PART ONE: Transatlantic Connections 37 1. Recovered Identities: Four Métis Artists in Nineteenth-Century Rupert’s Land / Susan Berry 39 2. Lost Women: Native Wives in Orkney and Lewis / Patricia A. McCormack 71 3. Christina Massan’s Beadwork and the Recovery of a Fur Trade Family History / Alison K. Brown, with Christina Massan & Alison Grant 99 PART TWO: Cultural Mediators 123 4. Repositioning the Missionary: Sara Riel, the Grey Nuns, and Aboriginal Women in Catholic Missions of the Northwest / Lesley Erickson 125 5. The “Accomplished” Odille Quintal Morison: Tsimshian Cultural Intermediary of Metlakatla, British Columbia / Maureen L. Atkinson 145 6. Obscured Obstetrics: Indigenous Midwives in Western Canada / Kristin Burnett 167 PART THREE: In the Borderlands 183 7. Sophie Morigeau: Free Trader, Free Woman / Jean Barman 185 8. The Montana Memories of Emma Minesinger: Windows on the Family, Work, and Boundary Culture of a Borderlands Woman / Sarah Carter 207 PART FOUR: The Spirit World 233 9. Searching for Catherine Auger: The Forgotten Wife of the Wîhtikôw (Windigo) / Nathan D. Carlson 235 10. Pakwâciskwew: A Reacquaintance with Wilderness Woman / Susan Elaine Gray 255 PART FIVE: Challenging and Crafting Representations 271 11. Frances Nickawa: “A Gifted Interpreter of the Poetry of Her Race” / Jennifer S.H. Brown 273 12. Blazing Her Own Trail: Anahareo’s Rejection of Euro-Canadian Stereotypes / Kristin L. Gleeson 297 Notes 323 List of Contributors 419 Index 423 This rich collection of essays illuminates the lives of late-eighteenth-century to mid-twentieth-century Aboriginal women, women who have been overlooked in sweeping narratives of the history of the West.Some essays focus on individuals—a trader, a performer, a non-human woman. Other essays examine cohorts of women—wives, midwives, seamstresses, nuns. Authors look beyond the documentary record and standard representations of women, drawing on records generated by the women themselves, including their beadwork, other material culture, and oral histories. Exploring the constraints and boundaries these women encountered, the authors engage with difficult and important questions of gender, race, and identity. Collectively these essays demonstrate the complexity of'contact zone'interactions, and they enrich and challenge dominant narratives about histories of the Canadian Northwest. "Some essays focus on individual women -- a trader, a performer, a non-human woman. Other essays examine cohorts of women -- wives, midwives, seamstresses, nuns. Authors look beyond the documentary record and standard representations of women, drawing also on records generated by the women themselves, including their beadwork, other material culture, and oral histories. Exploring the constraints and boundaries these women encountered, the authors engage with difficult and important questions of gender, race, and identity. Collectively these essays demonstrate the complexity of "contact zone" interactions, and they enrich and challenge dominant narratives about histories of the Canadian Northwest". --Page 4 de la couverture Some essays focus on individual women -- a trader, a performer, a non-human woman. Other essays examine cohorts of women -- wives, midwives, seamstresses, nuns. Authors look beyond the documentary record and standard representations of women, drawing also on records generated by the women themselves, including their beadwork, other material culture, and oral histories. Exploring the constraints and boundaries these women encountered, the authors engage with difficult and important questions of gender, race, and identity. Collectively these essays demonstrate the complexity of "contact zone" interactions, and they enrich and challenge dominant narratives about histories of the Canadian Northwest --Book Jacket Recollecting is a rich collection of essays that illuminate the lives of late eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century Aboriginal women.