Past Imperfect (Journal)
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Good Intentions, Debatable Results: Catholic Missionaries and Indian Schooling in Hobbema, 1891-1914
No full textOblate missionaries played a large role in educating and "civilizing" natives in the Canadian Northwest in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The missionaries\u27 goals were to gain converts and to prepare the Indians to cope with the new, white-dominated society. Under the aegis of a Dominion government that sought an inexpensive means of assimilating the Indians, the missionaries built schools where native children could be inculcated with "Canadian" values and mores. This essay looks at missionary education at the Hobbema residential school from 1891 to 1914 as a case study. The writer argues that for a variety of reasons, Indians often resisted the educational efforts of the Oblates and the sisters who taught at the school. Indians questioned the motives of the missionaries, the health conditions at the schools, and the benefits of the education. However, some Indians believed education could help them adjust to the new society. Nevertheless, the ethnocentrism, paternalism, and strict discipline that characterized the residential school experience often made it an unhappy one for children, although the situation for students at Hobbema was probably not as bad as it was for Indian students at other localities
Labouring to Choose, Choosing to Labour: Coercion and Choice in the Potosi Mita
No full textThe Spanish colonial labour regime in Latin America was known as the mita, and provided the Indian workers needed for numerous Spanish enterprises. The best known of the mita institutions was the Potosi mita, which lasted from 1573 to 1825. It drafted male Indians from the Viceroyalty of Peru to work in the huge Spanish silver mines at Potosi. The mita placed a heavy burden on the backs of Indian peasants, and adversely affected village life, since many Indians migrated to escape the harsh conditions of the mines. Yet while the Indians suffered as a result of Spanish colonial oppression, it would be a mistake to see them simply as passive victims; in fact, they exercised personal agency in a number of significant ways. One of these hots was by choosing whether to go to the mines or to migrate. Another way was by deciding either to leave Potosi after serving their time of forced labour or to stay on as voluntary workers, which had considerable economic benefits; and indeed, many of them elected to stay. Ironically, in giving the Indians this latter choice, the coercion of the Potosi mita ended up creating the voluntary long-term labour force that the Spanish had hoped for from the start
Dreaming of a Better World: Student Rebellion in 1960s Regina
No full textThe late 1960s and early 1970s was a time of widespread social upheaval; universities around the world witnessed an explosion with activism and demands for a better world. The University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus was founded during these turbulent years and thus developed a strong culture of student radicalism. This paper examines the two major events that shook the university during this period. The first, the so-called Carillon Crisis, was an attempt by the University Board of Governors to censor the Regina Campus student newspaper, The Carillon. The second, the occupation of the offices of the Dean of Arts and Science and the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research was an attempt by students to formalize student representation within the university community. Demanding that the university and surrounding society live up to the ideals of democracy they proclaimed, these protests left a lasting impression not only on the development of the university, but on the students themselves
Homo Viator: Itineraries of Exile, Displacement and Writings in Renaissance Europe
No full textHomo Viator: Itineraries of Exile, Displacement and Writing in Renaissance Europe. By Tucker, George Hugo. Geneve: Librairie Droz S.A., 2003: Pp. xix, 396. $95.00 US Cloth
Protecting Prerogative: William III and the East India Trade Debate, 1689-1698
No full textFollowing the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the East India Company struggled to protect its royal monopoly from the challenges of a group of interlopers who had strong support in the House of Commons. The conflict for control of the East India trade had a great effect on the royal prerogative. Historians have presented differing views on the state of the royal prerogative for this period, and positions have remained polarized along conservative and radical lines. Close examination of the East India trade debate sheds much light on the issue. The debate over trade reveals a process of give and take in the struggle over the royal prerogative, with the King giving up certain rights in exchange for Parliamentary support to prosecute the war in France