Gifted Woman Light Around You Ojibwa Women And Their Stories

From Ellen Gabriel to Tantoo Cardinal, many of the faces of Aboriginal people in the media today are women. In the Days of Our Grandmothers is a collection of essays detailing how Aboriginal women have found their voice in Canadian society over the past three centuries. Collected in one volume for the first time, these essays critically situate Aboriginal women in the fur trade, missions, labour and the economy, the law, sexuality, and the politics of representation. Leading scholars in their fields demonstrate important methodologies and interpretations that have advanced the fields of Aboriginal history, women's history, and Canadian history. A scholarly introduction lays the groundwork for understanding how Aboriginal women's history has been researched and written and a comprehensive bibliography leads readers in new directions. In the Days of our Grandmothers is essential reading for students and anyone interested in Aboriginal history in Canada.

Issues of identity figure prominently in Native North American communities, mediating their histories, traditions, culture, and status. This is certainly true of the Mi?kmaw people of Nova Scotia, whose lives on reserves create highly complex economic, social, political, and spiritual realities. This ethnography investigates identity construction and negotiations among the Mi?kmaq, as well as the role of identity dynamics in Mi?kmaw social relationships on and off the reserve. Featuring direct testimonies from over sixty individuals, this work offers a vivid firsthand perspective on contemporary Mi?kmaw reserve life. Simone Poliandri begins First Nations, Identity, and Reserve Life with a search for the criteria used by the Mi?kmaq to construct their identities, which are traced within the context of their different perceptions of community, tradition, spirituality, relationship with the Catholic Church, and the recent reevaluation of the iconic figure of late activist Annie Mae Aquash. Building on the notions of self-identification and ascribed identity as the primary components of identity, Poliandri argues that placing others at specific locations within the social landscape of their communities allows the Mi?kmaq to define and reinforce their own spaces by way of association, contrast, or both. This identification of others highlights Mi?kmaw people?s agency in shaping and monitoring the representations of their identities. With its theoretical insights, this richly textured ethnography will enhance understanding of identity dynamics among Indigenous communities even as it illuminates the unique nature of the Mi?kmaw people.

"Expressions in Canadian Native Studies is designed to provide an overview of Native Studies in contemporary Canada. The papers discuss many different Nations and range from the local, such as F. Laurie Barron and Joseph Garcea's "Reflections on Urban Reserves in Saskatchewan"; to the national, such as Bonita Lawrence's "Mixed-Race Urban Native People"; to the international, such as Priscilla Settee's "The Issue of Biodiversity, Intellectual Property Rights, and Indigenous Rights." the essays also provide diverse perspectives on important issues in Native Studies, such as Ron Bourgeault and Tom Flanagan's antithetical takes on the Louis Riel debate, or Joyce Green and Margaret A. Jackson's differing studies of the relationships between Aboriginal women's organizations and the self-government movement. The text also includes maps, excerpts of relevant government documents, and a glossary of terms. While the book is intended as a textbook for Native Studies courses-the critical reading and writing guides will be of primary value to students-it will also be of interest to scholars and more general audiences."--