Unsettling Settler Societies: Chapters 4 & 6

Chapter four of Unsettling Settler Societies discussed the development of Canada as a nation and the chronologic interactions between the settlers and the indigenous people, beginning with the fur trade and ending with the current political struggles. I was unfamiliar with much of the history of Canada and very unaware of the past to current day treatment of the native people. I had learned, in this class, about the importance of native women to the fur trade, but had not yet studied what happened after that. I was mostly surprised by the ideas the Canadian government had about dealing with the Indians. They first wrote them into their laws so that they had a decent number of rights, but then, so that they would not have to make good on their promises, they made it almost impossible to retain status as an Indian. Without the status they were not privileged to the Indian rights, yet still not privileged to the citizen rights. This left the people affected by these policies in a virtual “no man’s” land, where they were at the bottom rung of society but without means of bettering their situation. If a native person did not follow the rules set out by the government, they could easily loose their Indian status which was called ‘enfranchisement.’ If a male owned any personal property, for example living on land that was not part of a reserve, then he would become enfranchised. Because the British idea was that a woman was not a separate part from her husband, it was much easier for her to become enfranchised. All a woman had to do was marry a man with out Indian status, which would also leave her children as non status. This law was in place until 1985. There are still many negotiations involving people trying to regain their status as Indian today and will probably continue for many years.

Mexico’s development as a settler society was covered in chapter six. Again I found this chapter to be very eye opening. My previous knowledge of the history of the Mexican people was very limited. It was very interesting to see how the mestizaje came into existence. The forced and unforced biological blending of the indigenous people and the Spaniards was a very different approach to colonization then what happened in the US. Also, the current celebration of the Spanish background, and the apparent neglect of the African background is interesting, yet explainable through the caste system implemented by the Spanish and Indian hierarchy towards the beginning of Mexico’s colonization. It is very easy to see how native people in Mexico today are lost and pushed to the background. The native women are pushed further to the background by their mestizo counterparts who are arguing for feminism, but of a different type than the natives are looking for.