• North American Studies

This thesis employs postcolonial theory, a case study methodology, semi-structured interviews, and archival research to understand Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples’ sporting experiences in the Maritimes region of Canada. Two publishable papers comprise this thesis. The first paper analyzes the obstacles the participants faced and the positive experiences they had in sport. The second paper examines the ways in which the concept of “difference” was reproduced and challenged through the participants’ involvement in mainstream and all-Native sporting environments. Together, these papers bring much needed scholarly attention to Mi’kmaq and Maliseet peoples’ involvement in sport in the Maritimes, while they also make a contribution to the existing body of literature concerning Aboriginal peoples’ sport participation in Canada.

In the Eastern Algonquian languages Maliseet-Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, evaluative forms of verbs are derived by inserting one of several morphemes, not meaningful in themselves, within the verb stem. Corresponding derivatives of nouns and particles are formed by suffixation. This article documents the shapes that these derivatives take and the ways in which they are used to express anger, scorn, impatience, or intensity. Comparative evidence suggests that the source of these formations is an old process by which morphemes making reference to intimate body parts and other off-color concepts were added to verbs and nouns.

Proto‐Algonquian (PA) *wi·la ‘he, she’ has been replaced in the Eastern Algonquian languages, including contemporary Maliseet‐Passamaquoddy, by reflexes of Proto‐Eastern‐Algonquian (PEA) *ne·kəma, with the same meaning. The expected Passamaquoddy reflexes of PA *wi·la are attested, however, in material taken down by Albert S. Gatschet of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1897. The evidence of Gatschet’s recordings supports Bloomfield’s (1946) reconstruction of PA *wi·la by demonstrating that this form has a cognate in the Eastern branch of the family, as well as in the Central languages from which Bloomfield drew most of the data on which his reconstructions are based. This conclusion, in turn, supports Goddard’s hypothesis that the introduction of *ne·kəma is a shared innovation of the Eastern Algonquian languages.

We present a community-driven research project designed to evaluate an innovative land-based healing initiative – a traditional camping weekend – for urban Indigenous families. The initiative was developed and implemented by Under One Sky Friendship Centre in Fredericton, NB, and involved a weekend-long celebration of culture and community. We gathered data from family members, staff, and stakeholders, and completed a thematic analysis and community review before synthesizing results into a narrative summary. Themes included Skitkəmikw (Land), Cəcahkw (Spirit), Skicinowihkw & Nekwtakotəmocik (Community & Family), and Sakələməlsowakən (Wellbeing). These connections are echoed throughout the article by quotes from participants that capture the essence of the experience. Our research helps to fill a knowledge gap in this area and supports the limited body of existing literature in demonstrating that community-led, land-based healing initiatives support Indigenous wellbeing in many ways that mainstream approaches cannot. Future work is needed to scale up land-based healing initiatives that provide community-led approaches to health promotion, and to examine the effects of ongoing participation on long-term health and wellness outcomes.

Ce projet de recherche a comme objectif général de déterminer l’identité culturelle des occupants amérindiens qui se sont établis sur le site Rioux (DaEi-19), île Verte, au cours du Sylvicole supérieur tardif. Plusieurs groupes culturels sont reconnus pour avoir transité dans la région de l’estuaire du Saint-Laurent pendant cette période, dont les Iroquoiens du Saint-Laurent, les Malécites, les Mi’kmaq et les Innus (Montagnais). Il est depuis longtemps accepté que les Stadaconiens se rendaient régulièrement dans l’estuaire et le golfe pour y exploiter les ressources marines et y faire la guerre. L’influence de ce groupe sur les Algonquiens de la région, et vice versa, fait encore l’objet de débats. L’identité culturelle des Amérindiens qui ont occupé les sites à caractère iroquoïde dans l’estuaire est toujours une question délicate, puisque les nombreux échanges ont pu, de part et d’autre, transformer la culture matérielle des différents groupes. La méthodologie préconisée pour répondre à la question de l’identité culturelle est une approche holistique dans laquelle nous avons mis à contribution une foule d’informations provenant de diverses sources archéologiques et ethnohistoriques. Ce projet nous a permis de proposer que de petits groupes iroquoiens du Saint-Laurent se soient arrêtés au site Rioux pour y exploiter intensivement les ressources de la mer au cours du Sylvicole supérieur tardif. Bien que la recherche n’ait pas permis d’établir la présence d’un groupe algonquien sur place, l’influence algonquienne se fait toutefois sentir dans les matières premières utilisées sur le site. Ceci laisse croire que les Iroquoiens du site Rioux, et de la Côte-Sud en général, n’étaient pas intrusifs à la région et qu’ils participaient à un important réseau d’échange avec les Algonquiens des provinces maritimes. Notre projet de recherche nous a aussi permis de constater les limites de notre méthodologie et de critiquer l’approche archéologique classique basée essentiellement sur l’identification stylistique, la typologie et l’identification macroscopique. The main goal of this research project was to determine the cultural identity of the aboriginal people who occupied the Rioux site (DaEi-19), île Verte, during the last centuries of the Late Woodland period. Many cultural groups are known to have travelled in the estuary region of the St. Lawrence River, such as the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, the Maliseet, the Mi’kmaq and the Innus (Montagnais). It is common knowledge that the Stadaconians would, on a regular basis, travel to the Estuary and the Gulf to exploit marine resources and engage in warfare. The influence of this group on the local Algonquians, and vice versa, is still a matter of debate. The cultural identity of the aboriginal groups who occupied the estuarine iroquoian-like sites is still today a sensitive matter, since sustained interactions could have transformed the material culture of the different groups involved. The methodology used to answer the cultural identity issue is a holistic one in which the data from different archaeological and ethnohistoric sources are employed. This project allowed us to confirm the iroquoian nature of the archaeological remains and to suggest that small St. Lawrence Iroquoian groups established themselves on the Rioux site, mainly to intensively exploit the marine resources during the last centuries of the Late Woodland Period. Even though our project did not allow us to demonstrate an actual Algonquian presence on the site, their influence is felt though the lithic raw materials used, which leads us to believe that the Rioux site Iroquoians, and those that exploited the south shore of the river, were not intrusive to the region and that they participated in an important exchange network with the eastern Maritime Algonquians. Our research project also allowed us to shed light on the limitations of our methodology and criticize the traditional archaeological approach based essentially on stylistic identification, typology and macroscopic identification.