Politics of Education in Madawaska, 1842-1920
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library Summer 8-21-2020 Language, Identity, and Citizenship: Politics of Education in Madawaska, 1842-1920 Elisa E A Sance University of Maine, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Canadian History Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Sance, Elisa E A, "Language, Identity, and Citizenship: Politics of Education in Madawaska, 1842-1920" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3200. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/3200 This Open-Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, AND CITIZENSHIP: POLITICS OF EDUCATION IN MADAWASKA, 1842-1920 By Elisa Elisabeth Andréa Sance M.A. University of Maine, 2014 B.A. Université d’Angers, 2011 B.L.S. Université d’Angers, 2007 A.A. Université Picardie Jules Verne, 2006 A DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) The Graduate School The University of Maine August 2020 Advisory Committee: Jacques Ferland, Associate Professor of History, Advisor Scott W. See, Libra Professor Emeritus of History Richard W. Judd, Professor Emeritus of History Mazie Hough, Professor Emerita of History & Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Jane S. Smith, Associate Professor Emerita of French © 2020 Elisa Sance All Rights Reserved ii LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, AND CITIZENSHIP: POLITICS OF EDUCATION IN MADAWASKA, 1842-1920 By Elisa Elisabeth Andréa Sance Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Jacques Ferland An Abstract of the Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) August 2020 The establishment of the international border between Maine and New Brunswick in 1842 through the signature of the Webster-Ashburton treaty divided the Francophone population of the Madawaska region along the Saint John River. As a result, each half became administered by an Anglophone government. The linguistic and cultural differences between the Madawaska French and the Anglo- Saxon Protestant ruling majority in both the state and the province complicated the establishment of new public institutions. The language of both administrations as well as the language of public education was English; a language that very few people among the Madawaska French spoke or understood. This dissertation compares the politics of education of the state of Maine and the province of New Brunswick in how they dealt with the rural Francophone minority of the Madawaska French. Maine and New Brunswick established their public school systems around the same time, following the school reform movements and later, the progressive school movement. Both the state and the province faced similar challenges and barriers as they worked at establishing their public school system in the Madawaska region. Maine adopted a proactive approach with a clear assimilation agenda, while New Brunswick appeared slow to address the quality of education in its Francophone communities after the Compromise of 1875 and failed to provide a proper teacher training program for Francophones. Concurrently, the Madawaska French were seeking the services of the Roman Catholic Church for the education of their youth, forcing both Maine and New Brunswick to integrate religious orders in their public school systems in the region. I argue that the establishment of the public school system by both governments in the Madawaska region created a deep sense of alienation among the Madawaska French community, but it also created a powerful incentive for them to preserve their culture and traditions, forcing the authorities to compromise on the secular character of the public school system. DEDICATION To Denise Sance iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A dissertation is quite the undertaking, and it would have never happened without the support and guidance of so many. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Jacques Ferland, who helped me see this dissertation through. Jacques, you have believed in my project from the beginning and you have supported me in this endeavor. Thank you. I would like to thank Dr. Scott W. See for his mentorship. Scott, the example you set throughout my doctoral career has made me a better teacher and, I hope, a better researcher. Thank you. I would like to thank Dr. Jane S. Smith, with whom I have had the pleasure of working for the whole duration of my graduate career. Jane, you have been a teacher and a mentor, and today I feel very fortunate to get to call you a colleague and a friend. Thank you. I would also like to thank Dr. Mazie (Mary L.) Hough and Dr. Richard W. Judd. You have both inspired me to be a better teacher and you have encouraged me to trust the lenses under which I wanted to explore history. Thank you. I will remain forever grateful for the kindness of fellow academics who lent me a helping hand by sharing scholarship, advice, feedback, and funding or publishing opportunities along the way. Andrew Holman, Paul Buck, Koral Lavorgna, Frédéric Rondeau, Kathryn Slott, Mark Richard, Christina Keppie, Mark McLaughlin, Frances Heylar, Edwin Nagy, and the mysterious person who iv left a copy of Paul Peterson’s The Politics of School Reform, 1870-1940 in my mailbox, this work is richer thanks to you. I would like to thank the numerous archivists and librarians who have been incredibly helpful in the various stages of my research, and specifically the staff of the Acadian Archives in Fort Kent, Maine, the Blake Library at the University of Maine in Fort Kent, Maine, the Centre de Documentation et d’Études Madawaskayennes at the University of Moncton, in Edmundston, New Brunswick, the Maine Historical Society in Portland, Maine, the Maine State Library and the Maine State Archives in Augusta, Maine, the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Special Collection at the Fogler Library at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. This work was facilitated by the generous support of the Canadian American Center, the UMaine Graduate School, the Conseil de la Vie Française en Amérique, the Wiebke Ipsen-Marli Weiner Memorial Scholarship, the Bowen Scholarship in Canadian History, the UMaine Humanities Center Graduate Research Grant, Phi Kappa Phi’s Love of Learning Award, and several UMaine Graduate Student Government travel and research grants. I would like to thank my colleagues and supervisors at the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning for their constant encouragements as I was working to finish this manuscript. I would particularly like to thank Sheridan Kelley Adams, Karen Pelletreau, and Gemma Scott. Thank you for cheering me on, for keeping tabs on my progress, and for making the day of my defense as memorable a day as could be under our COVID-19 circumstances. v Last but not least, this dissertation would have never seen the light of day without the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you to all of you who have been there for all or part of this journey. I would especially like to thank Emma, for all our walks. They kept me sane, healthy and connected. Thank you. I would also like to thank my fiancé, Ahmed. You hopped on this journey on my second year of doctoral studies and you have encouraged me ever since. More than that, you have helped me keep a semblance of balance in this graduate life that never seemed to allow for any pauses. I finally did it and I cannot wait to see what other adventures we conquer together. Thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION........................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... x Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1. The Madawaska Territory ....................................................................... 6 1.2. A Borderland ............................................................................................... 10 1.3. Definitions ................................................................................................... 13 1.3.1. The Madawaska French ...................................................................... 13 1.3.2. Integration, Acculturation, and Assimilation ........................................ 13 1.4. Public Education ......................................................................................... 14 1.4.1 Public Education and Acadian Communities ....................................... 16 1.4.2. Barriers to Public Education ................................................................ 18 1.5. Method ........................................................................................................ 24 1.6. Outline ........................................................................................................