Description
Aboriginal History: A Reader offers post-secondary students a new appreciation for the long and complex history of Canada's First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples with in-depth coverage of events and processes from the earliest times through to the present. Combining contemporary articles with historical documents, this engaging reader examines the rich history of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The 30 articles - half of which are original to this volume - explore a diverse range of topics, including spirituality, colonialism, self-identity, federal policy, residential schools, labour, and women's rights. Organized around historical themes such as residential schools, self-government, and treaties, the volume carries a strong Aboriginal perspective with recent articles written by Aboriginal scholars highlighting Aboriginal people's ways of knowing and understanding history. Celia Haig-Brown's piece, Always Remembering: Indian Residential Schools in Canada is set alongside primary sources such as Program of Studies for Indian Schools, 1897, and excerpt from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, May 2006. In the chapter on Aboriginal Women, Sarah Carter's article Categories and Terrains of Exclusion: Constructing the 'Indian Woman' in the Early Settlement Era in Western Canada is set against Letter from Mrs Mary McNaughton (Cayuga) Concerning the Chattels of Indian Women Married to White Men and Living on the Reserve, dated 15 December 1879 to Sir John A. Macdonald. Chapter introductions and objectives, bolded key terms, questions for consideration, extensive lists of further resources, and a full glossary, along with figures, tables, and photos throughout, help students contextualize and actively engage with the readings. Highly recommended.