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Articles

Volume 31, Number 1 (2006)

Intersections of Memory, Ancestral Language, and Imagination; or, the Textual Production of Michif Voices as Cultural Weaponry

Submitted
October 16, 2008
Published
2006-01-01

Abstract

Anthologies and studies published in Aboriginal or Native writing and storytelling in Canada or Quebec generally suggest that First Nations and Métis writings form one and the same literature. While such groupings do not prevent the recognition that a particular writer is Métis, nor do they address the question of a distinct Métis cultural production. This state of affairs is further complicated by the fact that the majority of such volumes are written from an English-language perspective, which has historically overlooked the connections between Métis, French, and Franco-Canadian ancestry. The continued “neglect” of this reality threatens two oral traditions which are the product of these diverse groups, Michif and Michif French. While both of these languages may well be disappearing—despite efforts to conserve and resuscitate them—they have become incontestably rich sources of an emergent creative expression of place and identity that validates peoples and cultures that might otherwise be obscured or forgotten altogether.