Throughput the term, each student was tasked with writing one reading log per week. These reading logs focused on a variety of aspects of life in Pre-Confederation Canada, as described by various historians, as well as individuals that were present at the time of said event. Each log was meant to further our understanding of each subject we were presented with. By reading the provided works or documents, each student would then extract the thesis, as well as key facts that were presented in each source.
The first reading log focused on the Buffalo Jump at Head-Smashed-In, Alberta. The source material, Imagining Head-Smashed-In: Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting
on the Northern Plains, by Jack Brink, expanded my previously non-existent knowledge of buffalo hunting in the prairies, as well as how it solidified bonds between family and allies alike. This particular log also brought attention to the fact that many historians have neglected to acknowledge oral history and artifacts.
Following the Buffalo jump was an assessment of Missionaries in 17th century North America, and their desire to assimilate the Indigenous people into Christianity. This log as based on the journal article “‘We Are Well As We Are’: An Indian Critique of Seventeenth-Century Christian Missions,” by James P. Ronda. By reading Ronda’s article and later writing about the impact this left on the Indigenous community only confirmed how far people were willing to go in order to ensure the survival of Christianity.
The third reading log focused on the wives of fur traders and their journey to the Canadas. This log was by far the most interesting to me, as I have always been intrigued by the lives that women in Pre-Confederation Canada may have lead. After reading both Jan Noel’s “‘Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,” and Adrienne Leduc’s, “A Fille du Roi’s Passage,” I was shocked, but not all that surprised by the demographic that was most affected. Many of the young girls and women coming to the colony were orphans, or women that had no hopes of having a life worth living in France.
Next up was the reading log on the Acadians and their history. This log focused on the birth of the Acadian people, life in the colony, and the creation of Acadian identity, as discussed in Naomi Griffiths’, “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community,” and the CBC’s website,“The Acadians,”
As for the fifth reading log, I found this to be one of the more difficult logs to write. Although I found the readings that were assigned for this log to be incredibly interesting, I felt that I couldn’t properly express the main point of the sources. Reading, “Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage
Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803,” by Afua Cooper, and “Enslaved Africans in Upper Canada,” provided insight into the lengths that many enslaved men and women went to in order to secure the freedom that they had been denied to them, for future generations.
The sixth reading log pertained to the gold rush in British Columbia, which I found to be the least interesting of the eight. I believe this is due to the large amount of time spent in my elementary and high school socials classes on this subject. Although the source material, “‘Into That Country to Work’: Aboriginal Economic Activities During the Barkerville Gold Rush,” by Mica Jorgenson, and the primary documents provided on moodle, shed light on the erasure of Indigenous people in the gold rush, and the true thoughts of the individuals that tried their luck, I found this subject to be the least intriguing of them all.
As the term progressed, there were only two reading logs left to complete. Log seven focused on the Charivaris of Canada, while the eighth log focused on dueling throughout the 19th century. The source material for the Charivari log was a combination of a primary viewpoint (Susanna Moodie’s Roughing it in the Bush) and a scholarly article pertaining to the topic (From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837 by Allan Greer). Both documents proved to be both valuable and interesting, as they denoted the humiliating acts and chants performed at Charivaris, as well as instances in which they became violent. Following this log was the eighth and final log, discussing dueling in Upper and Lower Canada.
The focus of the log was the logic and rules behind a gentleman’s duel, and, more specifically, what a duel could and could not be used to fight for. Cecilia Morgan’s , In Search of the Phantom Misnamed Honour, the social standing of a gentleman, as well as his race, are discussed as reasons to prohibit a man from dueling. The second source, Pistols at Six O’Clock, by Stephen R. Brown, delves further into what constituted a duel. Both authors discuss the duel of John Wilson and Robert Lyon, in which Wilson a man born into a lower class than Lyon, worked his way up the social ladder, and found himself defending the honour of his beloved, Elizabeth Hughes.