From New Peoples to New Nations

"From New Peoples to New Nations represents a thorough and comprehensive study of the multiple inventions of Metis ethnicity and nationality through history. This book brings the critical debates surrounding national historiography to Metis studies and will stimulate debate throughout anthropology and history in Canada and beyond." -- David Dinwoodie, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico "Gerhard Ens and Joe Sawchuk have produced a compelling piece of work - one that will inform and contribute to ongoing debates within Metis studies for years to come. In From New Peoples to New Nations these two eminent scholars combined years of scholarly research, analyses, and interpretations on the Metis to produce an innovative and illuminating study anchored in the belief that Metis ethnicity and identity are constructed both from outsider views and the Metis' own self-identities in a never-ending dialogic process. This is a 'big' book both in the historical time span covered and geographic space encompassed and I welcome the two authors' efforts. Few academics would have been willing to undertake such a herculean task." -- Nicole St-Onge, Department of History, University of Ottawa

From New Peoples to New Nations is a broad historical account of the emergence of the Metis as distinct peoples in North America over the last three hundred years.

From New Peoples to New Nations is a broad historical account of the emergence of the Metis as distinct peoples in North America over the last three hundred years. Examining the cultural, economic, and political strategies through which communities define their boundaries, Gerhard J. Ens and Joe Sawchuk trace the invention and reinvention of Metis identity from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Their work updates, rethinks, and integrates the many disparate aspects of Metis historiography, providing the first comprehensive narrative of Metis identity in more than fifty years.

Based on extensive archival materials, interviews, oral histories, ethnographic research, and first-hand working knowledge of Metis political organizations, From New Peoples to New Nations addresses the long and complex history of Metis identity from the Battle of Seven Oaks to today’s legal and political debates.