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INST 358 (2011): Aboriginal Women in Canada Report a Broken Link

This course examines the roles of women in traditional, precontact Aboriginal societies, discusses the changes that faced Aboriginal women as a consequence of colonization, and introduces contemporary issues of concern to Aboriginal women in Canada.

Unit 1: Introduction to Theoretical Concepts

Armstrong, J. (1996). Invocation: The real power of Aboriginal women. In  Miller, C. & and Chuchryk, P. (Eds.), Women of the First Nations: Power, wisdom, and strength (pp. ix–xii). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. Read pages ix–xii.

Carter, S. (1997). In sharp relief: Representations of Aboriginal women in the colonial imagination. In Capturing women: The manipulation of cultural imagery in Canada's prairie West (pp. 158–193). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. Read pages 158–193.

Silko, L.M. (1996). Interior and exterior landscapes: The Pueblo migration stories. In Yellow woman and a beauty of the spirit: Essays on Native American life today, pp. 13–47. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Unit 2: Traditional Roles of Aboriginal Women: Oral Traditions

Ahenakew, E. (1929).  Cree trickster tales. The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 42(166), 309–353. Read “Chichipischekwan (Rolling Head)” pp. 309–311.

Unit 3: Traditional Roles of Aboriginal Women in Recent Scholarship

Buffalohead, P.K. (1983). Farmers, warriors, traders: A fresh look at Ojibway women. Minnesota History, 48(6), 236–244.

Unit 4: The Historical Fur Trade, ca. 1700–1850

Backhouse, C. (1991).The ceremony of marriage. In Petticoats and prejudice: Women and law in nineteenth-century Canada (pp. 9–39). Toronto: Women’s Press. Read pages 9–39.

Burley, David V. (1989). Function, meaning and context: Ambiguities in ceramic use by the ‘hivernant’ Metis of the Northwestern plains. Historical Archaeology, 23(1), 97–106.

White, B.M. (1999). The Woman who married a beaver: Trade patterns and gender roles in the Ojibwa fur trade. Ethnohistory 46(1), 109–147.

Unit 5: The Colonial Impact, ca. 1850–1920

Payment, D.P. (1996). “La vie en rose”? Metis women at Batoche, 1870 to 1920. In Miller, C., & Chuchryk, P. (Eds.), Women of the First Nations: Power, wisdom, and strength, pp. 19–38. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. Read pages 19–38.

Stevenson, W. (1999). Colonialism and First Nations Women in Canada. In Dua, E., & Robertson, A. (Eds.), Scratching the surface: Canadian anti-racist feminist thought, pp. 49–80. Toronto: Women’s Press. Read pages  49–80.

Unit 6: The Colonial Impact, ca. 1920–1960

Drees, L.M., & McBain, L. (2001). Nursing and Native peoples in Northern Saskatchewan, 1930s–1950s. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 18, 43–65.

St. Onge, N. (1999–2000). Memories of Metis women of Saint-Eustache, Manitoba—1910–1980. Oral History Forum, 19/20, 91–111.

Unit 7: Challenges to Colonialism, ca. 1960–1985

Green, J. (1985). Sexual equality and Indian government: An analysis of Bill C-31 Amendments to the Indian Act. Native Studies Review, 1(2), 81–95.

Mihesuah, D.A. (2001). Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash: An American Indian activist.  In Perdue, T. (ed.), Sifters: Native American women’s lives (pp. 204–222). New York: Oxford University Press,  Read pages 204–222.

Unit 8: Violence and Aboriginal Women in the Late Twentieth Century

Baskin, C. (2003). From victims to leaders: Activism against violence towards women. In Anderson, K., & Lawrence, B. (Eds.), Strong women stories: Native vision and community survival (pp. 213–227). Toronto: Sumach Press. Read pages 213–227.

Martin-Hill, D. (2003). She no speaks and other colonial constructs of “the traditional Woman.” In Anderson, K., & Lawrence, B. (Eds.), Strong women stories: Native vision and community survival (pp. 106–120). Toronto: Sumach Press Read pages 106–120.

Unit 9: Reawakening Strength and Resistance

Fernández, C. (2003). Coming full circle: A young man’s perspective on building gender equity in Aboriginal communities. In Anderson, K., &. Lawrence, B. (Eeds.), Strong women stories: Native vision and community survival (pp. 242–254). Toronto: Sumach Press. Read pages 242–254.