INDIGST 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Squaw, Victorian Era, Parenting

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Indigenous Studies
• Course: INDIGST 1AA3
• Professor: Vanessa Watts

Document Summary

Women in victorian era society: public domain men- politics, law, labour, private domain women- child rearing, housework, domains valued differently, indigenous society, men also took care of children and did housework. Settler perceptions of indigenous women: fetishized, eroticized, masculine (because they laboured and were involved in governance), squaw, regarded as holding power within the community. Heads of state of canada would negotiate with men. International agreements, women are not holding a position. Treaties include land allocations by the federal government to male heads of families: read book, many tender ties. Women left behind because men decided that they wanted to marry a european: fur trade, there were not a lot of european women present. When fur trade was at its peak: women held a strong position in the international economy. Lost these positions when fur trade declined: christianity, churches, residential school, ext. Men were supposed to be closer to god: residential schools, curriculum was gender based.