Using the techniques of microhistory, this thesis explores questions of construction of identity, and the relationship of narrative to identity. The thesis follows the lives of several residents of the St. Lawrence valley as they learn about the residents of New York and New England through business, marriage, adoption and trade in furs. Using case studies of seventeenth-century native and European individuals, as well as information from folklore, parish registers, letters and legal documents, movement in the border region between settled colonies is examined. A nominal index describes the origins of, and provides capsule biographies for, 694 residents of New France whose roots were neither in France nor in the native communities. An examination of these cases allows a comparison between personal choice and social constraint in a colonial context.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35890 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Gray, Linda Breuer. |
| Contributors | Desbarats, Catherine (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001655506, proquestno: NQ50177, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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