i Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves: The Contrapuntal Rantings of a Halfbreed Girl by Allyson K. Anderson A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Native Studies University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2019 by Allyson Anderson ii Abstract This thesis investigates issues of representation and the social identity of the colonized by conducting a textual analysis of a fictive social construct that I dub the halfbreed girl, and of the ways in which selected metisse writers, poets, artists and performers respond to that stereotype in their respective works. Using methodologies in literature and the visual/performing arts, this thesis interrogates matters of social process: specifically, settler-colonialism’s discursive management of the social identities – in effect, the social place – of metis women, and how metis women negotiate this highly raced and gendered identity space. Emphasizing Canadian contexts, the images examined are drawn from North American settler-colonial pop-culture texts produced in the late nineteenth- through the early twenty-first centuries; the metisse responses to them are gathered from the same time period. The thesis includes American-produced images of the halfbreed girl due to the historic relationship between the two nations and the significant consumption of mass-produced American pop-culture media by Canadians – historically and currently. The first tier of the study demonstrates how the figure of the halfbreed girl is rendered abject through textual strategies that situate her at the intersection of the dichotomies, civilization/savagery and Madonna/whore, generating the racialized Princess/squaw polemic. The logic of the Princess/squaw polemic further reticulates into three sub-binaries: White/Indian, mimesis/regression, and naturalness/degeneracy, compounding the abjection of the halfbreed girl, who oscillates along and between these binaries, relegating her to a state of perpetual liminality in the settler-colonial master narrative. The thesis also finds that these iii textual strategies tend to reflect the processes of social abjection to which metis women were subjected in actuality, as exemplified by the deteriorating social status of historical metisses in nineteenth-century Canada. The second tier of the study finds that metisse auteurs are indeed cognizant of this social construction–and subsequent abjection–of themselves as an Indigenous ‘other’ in settler-colonial pop-culture discourse, and incorporate this awareness, along with elements of the stereotypical halfbreed girl, into their respective embodiments of metisse-ness in their selected works. However, they do not respond uniformly to images of the halfbreed girl that situate them as a liminal entity, nor necessarily receive them uncritically. Rather, their works exhibit variegated reactions—from internalization to various modalities of resistance—as they grapple with aspects of the halfbreed girl in their own performances and/or texts. iv Dedication For all of my ancestors who came before me, who travelled far, who risked life and limb to simply survive , who literally carried the weight of Empire on their backs and/or in their bellies: your love and your lives and your journeys – far from easy - led to this moment. I am proud to walk in your footsteps. For my beloved parents who gave me life and nurtured my body, mind, and soul, for their hard work, their unwavering moral support, their unconditional love, and for teaching me to extend that love to others, beyond human beings, to encompass the land that nurtures us, and to all of the beings who inhabit it along with us. I would not be who I am without you. For cherished Niwicewakan , steadfast and true, without whose belief in me, along with his material sacrifice and practical support, this endeavour would not have been possible. My love and gratitude, always. For my adored, and adoring children, and to my first-born grandson, who sacrificed time with me or for me in this academic pursuit, and for being my heart, my light, and my will to continue to better myself. For B., life-long friend and soul sister, whose clear-sightedness, even temper, and moral support is, as always, both touchstone, and balm to the soul. This is for you . v Acknowledgements I give my thanks to the Snuneymux and to the Lyackson peoples, upon whose unceded territories I have been privileged to live and work for the last two decades, and to the Elders who worked alongside me, educating and advising me. Thanks to the many colleagues who have been part of the department of Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies at Vancouver Island University over the years, who have been my academic ‘family’, as well as fostered my intellectual ‘home’. Thanks to the many students who have graced my classroom over the years for comprising the ‘learning community’ that has educated me so well. Thanks to Aunt Marge and Uncle Keith for embracing me into the bosom of their kinship, and for and facilitating my reconnection with the Winnipeg contingent of my large, extended Metis family. You were my, ‘soft place to fall’ when I was homesick, lonely, and stressed. You were there to share my joy and my accomplishments. Thank you for your unflagging love and support. Thank you for helping me to re-trace the steps of my ancestors on my ancestral home. Thanks to my dissertation advisor, Emma LaRocque for your unflagging faith in my scholarship and for your advocacy, advice, and moral support. Thank you to Chris Trott for your practical guidance, and to Serenity Hee-Jung Joo for her incisive critique, and above all, the committee’s patience. Thanks to my external examiner Deanna Reder for your glowing review of my thesis. Ekosani vi Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii Preface: On Method, Terminology and Organization .............................................................. ix The Reflected and Storied Identity............................................................................................. ix Textual Analysis ....................................................................................................................... xiv Research Design ....................................................................................................................... xxi tier 1: sample group & system of analysis. ......................................................................... xxiv tier 2: sample group & system of analysis. .......................................................................... xxx halfbreed’, mixed-blood’, “little m”, “big”: iterations of metissage ................................. xxxii Chapter Overviews ................................................................................................................ xxxv I. Introduction: Seeing Through the Settler-Colonial Looking-Glass ................................. 1 Literature Review: Desperately Seeking the Halfbreed Girl .................................................. 10 the eye of the beholder ........................................................................................................... 15 “neither indian princess nor easy squaw”. ............................................................................ 17 hollywood horrors.................................................................................................................. 21 returning the (three-eyed) gaze .............................................................................................. 30 II. Picturing the halfbreed girl: ........................................................................................... 31 III. Boundary Issues: .............................................................................................................. 52 Post Red Resistance: Relocating the metisse in the Colonial Master Narrative ...................... 71 Nascent Nationhood: Reinforcing Perimeters and Parameters ................................................. 76 IV. Placing Women of a “Pernicious Middle Race”: .......................................................... 88 White/Indian: “Born of Sin and Savagery” .............................................................................. 96 a fetish, by any other name. ................................................................................................. 103 squaw man / law man / straw man. ...................................................................................... 106 bestial beauties. .................................................................................................................... 110 Mimesis/Regression: You Can Dress Her up, but You Can’t Take Her Anywhere ............... 114 they say “money lightens” (dimly) ...................................................................................... 126 whitewashing the halfbreed girl. ......................................................................................... 130 vii Naturalness/Degeneracy: Miscegenous Monstrosities ...........................................................