A People and a Nation: New Directions in Contemporary Métis Studies

In A People and a Nation, the authors, most of whom are themselves Métis, offer readers a set of lenses through which to consider the complexity of historical and contemporary Métis nationhood and peoplehood. The field of Métis Studies has been afflicted by a longstanding tendency to situate Métis within deeply racialized contexts, and/or by an overwhelming focus on the nineteenth century. This volume challenges the pervasive racialization of Métis studies with multidisciplinary chapters on identity, history, politics, literature, spirituality, religion, and kinship networks, reorienting the conversation toward Métis experiences today. In the process, this timely collection dismantles the narrow notions that continue to shape political, legal, and social understanding of Métis existence, and convincingly demonstrates a more robust approach to Métis studies that centres Métis peoplehood and nationhood.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: A New Era of Métis Studies Scholarship / Chris Andersen and Jennifer Adese 1 Peoplehood and the Nation Form: Core Concepts for a Critical Métis Studies / Chris Andersen 2 The Power of Peoplehood: Reimagining Metis Relationships, Research, and Responsibilities / Robert L.A. Hancock 3 The Race Question in Canada and the Politics of Racial Mixing / Daniel Voth 4 Challenging a Racist Fiction: A Closer Look at Métis-First Nations Relations / Robert Alexander Innes 5 Restoring the Balance: Métis Women and Contemporary Nationalist Political Organizing / Jennifer Adese 6 Alcide Morrissette: Oral Histories of a Métis Man on the Prairies in the Mid-Twentieth Century / Jesse Thistle 7 "We're Still Here and Métis:" Rewriting the 1885 Resistance in Marilyn Dumont's The Pemmican Eaters / June Scudeler 8 Mary and the Métis: Religion as a Site for New Insight in Métis Studies / Paul L. Gareau 9 Building the Field of Métis Studies: Toward Transformative and Empowering Métis Scholarship / Adam Gaudry List of Contributors; Index

About the Author :
Jennifer Adese (otipemisiwak/Métis) is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She is co-editor, with Robert Alexander Innes, of Indigenous Celebrity: Indigenous Entanglements with Fame. Her work has appeared in Studies in American Indian Literature (SAIL), American Indian Quarterly (AIQ), Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society (DIES), MediaTropes, TOPIA, PUBLIC - ART, CULTURE, IDEAS, along with a number of edited collections. Chris Andersen (Métis) is the dean of the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. He is the author of the award-winning "Métis": Race, Recognition, and the Struggle for Indigenous Peoplehood, and, with Maggie Walter, co-author of Indigenous Statistics: A Quantitative Indigenous Methodology. He co-edited, with Jean O'Brien, Sources and Methods in Indigenous Studies Contributors: Paul L. Gareau, Adam Gaudry, Robert L.A. Hancock, Robert Alexander Innes, June Scudeler, Jesse Thistle, and Daniel Voth

Review :
This is an important text, which has been carefully edited to bring disparate voices together in a way that creates a resonance. - Lyle Ford, University of Manitoba Libraries (Prairie History) This is a timely, potentially paradigm-shifting book. - B. F. R. Edwards (CHOICE Connect)