A Comparative Analysis of Shelley Pearen’s Letters from Wikwemikong, 1845-1863 and David Thompson's Columbia Journals
A Comparative Analysis of Shelley Pearen’s Letters from Wikwemikong, 1845-1863 and David Thompson’s Columbia Journals
Submitted by: Renee Matta (250310179)
“Any cultural change since contact with Europeans was presented as the natural outcome of a passive, inferior culture coming into contact with an active, superior one.”—Dara Culhane
Canada’s sovereignty is based on the expansion of imperialism, the growth of capital power and the notion of an inferior culture being dominated by a superior one. Written in 1899, Joseph Rudyard Kipling’s famous Victorian-era poem called The White Man’s Burden directly supports this ideology. The White Man’s Burden lays out a clear narrative that represents the role that European settlers perceived themselves to have in bringing civilization to the lawless, nomadic and otherwise inferior cultures of Canada. By comparing The White Man’s Burden to Shelley Pearen’s Letters from Wikwemikong, 1845-1863, and David Thompson’s Columbia Journals, it is possible to understand how the narrative pervades many nineteenth century Canadian colonial and religious primary documents. The essay will examine: first, the defining objectives of the Jesuit missionaries and the Euro-Canadian fur traders; second, the cultural differentiation, and third, the views of Indigenous nations. The conclusion will briefly examine the Jesuits’ intolerance of Native culture and whether it helped facilitate assimilation. Alternatively, it will evaluate whether David Thompson’s explanation of the fur trading expeditions of the West differed from the dominant perspectives present within other colonial sources.
In order to understand the following analysis, the historical context of Canada and the United States during the colonial period must be examined with an emphasis on the early to mid-nineteenth century society. In Europe, the rise of the industrialized state brought new prosperity to European residents, particularly in terms of their social mobility,
Submitted by: Renee Matta (250310179)
“Any cultural change since contact with Europeans was presented as the natural outcome of a passive, inferior culture coming into contact with an active, superior one.”—Dara Culhane
Canada’s sovereignty is based on the expansion of imperialism, the growth of capital power and the notion of an inferior culture being dominated by a superior one. Written in 1899, Joseph Rudyard Kipling’s famous Victorian-era poem called The White Man’s Burden directly supports this ideology. The White Man’s Burden lays out a clear narrative that represents the role that European settlers perceived themselves to have in bringing civilization to the lawless, nomadic and otherwise inferior cultures of Canada. By comparing The White Man’s Burden to Shelley Pearen’s Letters from Wikwemikong, 1845-1863, and David Thompson’s Columbia Journals, it is possible to understand how the narrative pervades many nineteenth century Canadian colonial and religious primary documents. The essay will examine: first, the defining objectives of the Jesuit missionaries and the Euro-Canadian fur traders; second, the cultural differentiation, and third, the views of Indigenous nations. The conclusion will briefly examine the Jesuits’ intolerance of Native culture and whether it helped facilitate assimilation. Alternatively, it will evaluate whether David Thompson’s explanation of the fur trading expeditions of the West differed from the dominant perspectives present within other colonial sources.
In order to understand the following analysis, the historical context of Canada and the United States during the colonial period must be examined with an emphasis on the early to mid-nineteenth century society. In Europe, the rise of the industrialized state brought new prosperity to European residents, particularly in terms of their social mobility,
Cited: Culhane, Dara. “The Pleasure of the Crown: Anthropology, Law and First Nations.” Vancouver: Talon Books, Hignell Book Printing, 1998. Cardinal, Harold Lualdi, Katharine J. “Sources of The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History. Volume II: Since 1340.” Boston, New York: Bedford St-Martin’s, 2007. Thompson, David. “Columbia Journals.” ed. Barbara Belyea, Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994. Thompson, David [ 2 ]. Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden: 1899, in Sources of the Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History. Volume II: Since 1340, ed. Katharine J. Lualdi (Boston, New York: Bedford St-Martin’s, 2007). [ 5 ]. Early Jesuit Missions in Canada, vol. 6-4, Letters from Wikwemikong: 1845-1863, ed. and trans. Shelley Pearen, ed. and trans. William Lonc. S.J. (Ottawa: William Lonc. S.J., 2008). [ 6 ]. David Thompson, Columbia Journals, ed. Barbara Belyea (Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994). [ 7 ]. Friedrich Engels, Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith: 1847, in Sources of the Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History. Volume II: Since 1340, ed. Katharine J. Lualdi (Boston, New York: Bedford St-Martin’s, 2007), 113. [ 8 ]. Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man: 1871, in Sources of the Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History. Volume II: Since 1340, ed. Katharine J.Lualdi (Boston, New York: Bedford St Martin’s, 2007), 131. [ 13 ]. Harold Cardinal, The Unjust Society (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999), 20. [ 25 ]. David Thompson, Narrative, ed. Richard Glover (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1962), 74.