As part of the Department of English Language and Literature’s Research Talks, will be giving a presentation, entitled, “Métis Peoplehood and Ontology“.
Date: Friday, March 20, 2015
Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm (reception to follow)
Location: DT 1811
Everyone welcome!
Métis politics provides a fantastic window to better understand Indigenous political movements. In the case of the Métis, it reveals at least two political ontologies. On the one hand, we find a political ontology influenced by binary classic nationhood criteria, requesting the “birth” of a “New People” grounded in what is conceived as an exclusionary delineated space: the “Metis Historic Homeland.” On the other hand, we see a more flexible and relational approach to Métis identity based on this notion of being “walkers” of both worlds. This Research Talk will discuss an alternative model to think of Métis “peoplehood” that operates on the basis of a more relational, pragmatic, and multi-centred approach to Métis identity.
Ӱԭ the Presenter:
Sebastien Malette is of mixed-heritage Métis/Québécois (Michigamea/Kaskaskia Historic Community). Sebastien is interested in problematizing the relationships between Law and Indigeneity as both enabling and disrupting relations of domination affecting countries and communities with a colonial history. His research centers on Indigenous Law, Métis/Mixed-Heritage Studies, governmentality, environmentalism, and decolonization.