Carolyn Podruchny – författare

British traders and Ojibwe hunters. Cree women and their metis daughters. Explorers and anthropologists and Aboriginal guides and informants. These people, their relationships, and their complex identities were not featured in histories until the 1970s, when scholars from multiple disciplines brought new perspectives and approaches to bear on the past.Gathering Places presents some of the most innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to metis, fur trade, and First Nations history being practised today. Whether they are discussing dietary practices on the Plateau, the meanings of totemic signatures, or issues of representation in public history, the authors present novel explorations of evidence that extend beyond earlier histories centred on the archive. By drawing on archaeological, material, oral, and ethnographic evidence and by exploring personal approaches to history and scholarship, these essays mark a significant departure from the old paradigm of history writing and will serve as models for recovering Aboriginal and cross-cultural experiences and perspectives.

French Canadian workers who paddled canoes, transported goods, and staffed the interior posts of the northern North American fur trade became popularly known as voyageurs. Scholars and public historians alike have cast them in the romantic role of rugged and merry heroes who paved the way for European civilization in the wild Northwest. Carolyn Podruchny looks beyond the stereotypes and reveals the contours of voyageurs' lives, world views, and values. Making the Voyageur World shows that the voyageurs created distinct identities shaped by their French-Canadian peasant roots, the Aboriginal peoples they met in the Northwest, and the nature of their employment as indentured servants in diverse environments. Voyageurs' identities were also shaped by their constant travels and by their own masculine ideals that emphasized strength, endurance, and daring. Although voyageurs left few conventional traces of their own voices in the documentary record, an astonishing amount of information can be found in descriptions of them by their masters, explorers, and other travelers. By examining their lives in conjunction with the metaphor of the voyage, Podruchny not only reveals the everyday lives of her subjects—what they ate, their cosmology and rituals of celebration, their families, and, above all, their work—but also underscores their impact on the social and cultural landscape of North America.

What does it mean to be Metis? How do the Metis understand their world, and how do family, community, and location shape their consciousness? Such questions inform this collection of essays on the northwestern North American people of mixed European and Native ancestry who emerged in the seventeenth century as a distinct culture. Volume editors Nicole St-Onge, Carolyn Podruchny, and Brenda Macdougall go beyond the concern with race and ethnicity that takes center stage in most discussions of Metis culture to offer new ways of thinking about Metis identity.Geography, mobility, and family have always defined Metis culture and society. The Metis world spanned the better part of a continent, and a major theme of Contours of a People is the Metis conception of geography - not only how Metis people used their environments but how they gave meaning to place and developed connections to multiple landscapes. Their geographic familiarity, physical and social mobility, and maintenance of family ties across time and space appear to have evolved in connection with the fur trade and other commercial endeavors. These efforts, and the cultural practices that emerged from them, have contributed to a sense of community and the nationalist sentiment felt by many Metis today.Writing about a wide geographic area, the contributors consider issues ranging from Metis rights under Canadian law and how the Library of Congress categorizes Metis scholarship to the role of women in maintaining economic and social networks. The authors' emphasis on geography and its power in shaping identity will influence and enlighten Canadian and American scholars across a variety of disciplines.

In the Philippines, the concept of Indigeneity is deeply intertwined with colonial history, a pattern echoed across the globe. Yet, its manifestation in the Philippines bears distinct features. The Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 identifies as Indigenous groups who resisted colonization. Today the Philippines recognizes approximately 110 diverse Indigenous ethnic groups that are made up of 14–17 million people. This book aims to show how discussions of Indigeneity in the Philippines can contribute to the conversation about global Indigeneity by highlighting the distinct circumstances of the Philippines. The fourteen essays in this volume are divided into four sections: Defining Indigenous Peoples and their Rights, Indigenous Knowledge, Colonialism, and Making Identities. The interdisciplinary essays touch on Indigenous peoples throughout the Philippines and beyond to diasporas. Most of the essays are rooted in northern Luzon in the Cordillera region, reflecting the field’s strength. A variety of theoretical insights emerge in the volume, but a common thread is each essay’s firm grounding in specific people, places, and processes, and the critical reading of source materials. The twenty-four contributors teach us that Indigeneity in the Philippines is a complex and evolving identity brought to national attention by the hard work of Indigenous communities. In the Philippines today, Indigenous peoples continue to negotiate their rights, affirm their presence, and advocate for their concerns. Indigenous knowledge has been flourishing in epistemologies, rituals, stories, books, and educational structures. This volume of essays on Indigeneity in a nation that is known for its support of Indigenous groups is one of the first of its kind for Southeast Asia.