BEING MÉTIS: A HISTORY OF GABRIEL DUMONT AND MÉTIS IDENTITY
| dc.contributor.advisor | Nickel, Sarah | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Troupe, Cheryl | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Snyder, Emily | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Gaudry, Adam | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Hogue, Michel | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Barreno, Leonzo | |
| dc.creator | Raven, Krystl | |
| dc.creator.orcid | 0000-0002-2978-5396 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-05-22T17:30:41Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-05-22T17:30:41Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 2024 | |
| dc.date.created | 2024-04 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-05-22 | |
| dc.date.submitted | April 2024 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2024-05-22T17:30:41Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | I came to this work with the question of what makes Gabriel a hero for the Métis people, why is he still important today, and why is so little about him known within the public sphere in comparison to Louis Riel. I employ the theoretical framework of wahkootowin, with an awareness of Indigenous masculinity theories, in combination with new biography methodology within the field of Indigenous Studies to follow the Dumont family over three generations, focusing on themes of Métis identity to discover how their life decisions led to their Métis identity, and what being Métis looked like in their world. Ultimately, I illustrate that the Dumont family reveals connections between Métis identity and kinship, homelands, and culture. Further, Gabriel’s life allows an exploration of Métis masculinity, and his position as a Métis hero, through Métis historical consciousness, allows his life to connect the past to the present and reveal the role of historical figures in contemporary Métis identity. I first explore the role of kinship in Métis identity. Additionally, I explore the Dumonts’ expression of their Métis identity and kinship beliefs through the practice of adoption. Next, this dissertation follows how the Dumont family spread across the northwest, incorporating the Métis homelands as their home, and the ways in which Métis people lived on the land. In the third chapter, this dissertation looks at Métis leadership through Gabriel, whose position as a leader signals his Métis identity. Establishing a framework to understand Métis leadership that combined democratic processes and wahkootowin to elect the best leader for the context, this chapter examines three periods of Gabriel’s life: the buffalo hunt, St. Laurent de Grandin, and the 1885 North West Resistance. This leadership process resulted in consistency that was adaptable but uniquely Métis, but also excluded women from elected leadership. I then investigate Gabriel’s use of his Métis identity, through cultural capital, to continue his leadership work to gain employment and political advocacy opportunities after the 1885 North West Resistance in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and speaking engagements. Lastly, this dissertation incorporates oral interviews to explore Gabriel Dumont’s place in Métis historical consciousness, elucidating how he connects the past to the present as a touchstone to Métis culture and resistance, influencing contemporary Métis identity. In addition to these aspects of Métis identity, Gabriel’s life allows the exploration of historical Métis masculinity. Responding to two Indigenous masculinities theories, I assert that Gabriel’s life demonstrates how historical Métis masculinity shows the influence of their First Nations and Euro-Canadian ancestors through a masculinity that centres wahkootowin with a non-hegemonic patriarchal structure. In such, it privileges Métis men, particularly in leadership positions, but does not subjugate Métis women, and considers both gender’s roles as equally important. Taken together, Gabriel Dumont’s life through the lens of new biography links the past to the present, provides opportunities for critical analysis and a Métis centered understanding of Métis identity. Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of kinship to Métis identity, historically and contemporarily, and situates Gabriel Dumont as a important leader and political actor. | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10388/15691 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.subject | Métis | |
| dc.subject | history | |
| dc.subject | Canada | |
| dc.subject | Métis masculinity | |
| dc.subject | Indigenous masculinities | |
| dc.subject | homelands | |
| dc.subject | leadership | |
| dc.subject | kinship | |
| dc.subject | wahkootowin | |
| dc.subject | Métis identity | |
| dc.subject | cultural capital | |
| dc.subject | Gabriel Dumont | |
| dc.subject | historical consciousness | |
| dc.subject | culture | |
| dc.subject | Métis leadership | |
| dc.subject | Métis kinship | |
| dc.subject | Métis ethnogenesis | |
| dc.subject | Oral history | |
| dc.subject | new biography | |
| dc.title | BEING MÉTIS: A HISTORY OF GABRIEL DUMONT AND MÉTIS IDENTITY | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| dc.type.material | text | |
| thesis.degree.department | Indigenous Studies | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Indigenous Studies | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Saskatchewan | |
| thesis.degree.level | Doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) |