Daughters of Aataentsic
Life Stories from Seven Generations
A groundbreaking project recounting the life stories of seven significant Weⁿdat/Waⁿdat women across North America.
Description
Daughters of Aataentsic highlights and connects the unique lives of seven Weⁿdat/Waⁿdat women whose legacies are still felt today. Spanning the continent and the colonial borders of New France, British North America, Canada, and the United States, this book shows how Wendat people and place came together in Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and how generations of activism became intimately tied with notions of family, community, motherwork, and legacy from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. The lives of the seven women tell a story of individual and community triumph despite difficulties and great loss.
Kathryn Magee Labelle aims to decolonize the historical discipline by researching with Indigenous people rather than researching on them. It is a collaborative effort, guided by an advisory council of eight Weⁿdat/Waⁿdat women, reflecting the needs and desires of community members. Daughters of Aataentsic challenges colonial interpretations by demonstrating the centrality of women, past and present, to Weⁿdat/Waⁿdat culture and history. Labelle draws from institutional archives and published works, as well as from oral histories and private collections.
Breaking new ground in both historical narratives and community-guided research in North America, Daughters of Aataentsic offers an alternative narrative by considering the ways in which individual Weⁿdat/Waⁿdat women resisted colonialism, preserved their culture, and acted as matriarchs.
Awards
- Short-listed, University of Regina Faculty of Arts/University of Saskatchewan College of Arts and Science Welsh Scholarly Writing Award 2022
- Short-listed, University of Saskatchewan, President's Office, Non-Fiction Award 2022
Reviews
“Magee Labelle and the Wendat/Wandat Women’s Advisory Council share these histories with clear intent, establishing that the book’s main purpose is to do good work in the present and the future for “all their relations.” I will end by saying chi-miigwech (thank you) to Magee Labelle and the Wendat/Wandat Women’s Advisory Council for sharing their knowledge and nurturing the relationships that led to this book.” Canadian Journal of History
"Daughters of Aataentsic enriches our understanding of the everyday lives of real women, their families, and communities across time in Quebec and parts of the southwestern and western United States. This book does not denounce the past, holler, and shout, but rather attends to the range of information and knowledge passed down to draw us into times and places we would otherwise not have the privilege of knowing from an Indigenous perspective. Its insights have stuck with me long after my first reading, as I expect they will for others." Jean Barman, University of British Columbia
"Daughters of Aataentsic makes a significant contribution to the historiography of Indigenous women. Labelle has written an important book and her laudatory and exemplary methodology is a model for all people researching and writing on First Nations and Native Americans." Clifford Trafzer, University of California, Riverside