Research Catalog

Making the voyageur world : travelers and traders in the North American fur trade / Carolyn Podruchny.

Title: Making the voyageur world : travelers and traders in the North American fur trade / Carolyn Podruchny.
Author: Podruchny, Carolyn
Publication: Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 2006.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	E49.2.F85 P63 2006	Off-site

Details

Description

xx, 414 p. : ill., maps; 24 cm.

Summary

"French Canadian workers who paddled canoes, transported goods, and staffed the interior posts of the northern North American fur trade became popularly known as voyageurs. Scholars and public historians alike have cast them in the romantic role of rugged and merry heroes who paved the way for European civilization in the wild Northwest. Carolyn Podruchny looks beyond the stereotypes and reveals the contours of voyageurs' lives, world views, and values." "Making the Voyageur World shows that the voyageurs created distinct identities shaped by their French-Canadian peasant roots, the Aboriginal peoples they met in the Northwest, and the nature of their employment as indentured servants in diverse environments. Voyageurs' identities were also shaped by their constant travels and by their own masculine ideals that emphasized strength, endurance, and daring. Although voyageurs left few conventional traces of their won voices in the documentary record, an astonishing amount of information can be found in descriptions of them by their masters, explores, and other travelers. By examining their lives in conjunction with the metaphor of the voyage, Podruchny not only reveals the everyday lives of her subjects - what they ate, their cosmology and rituals of celebration, their families, and, above all, their work - but also underscores their impact on the social and cultural landscape of North America."--Jacket.

Series Statement

France overseas

Uniform Title

France overseas

Subjects

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [371]-397) and index.

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

List of illustrations -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Note on sources -- Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction : Sons of the farm, the trade, and the wilderness -- 2. Leaving home : family and livelihood in French Canada and beyond -- 3. Rites of passage and ritual moments : voyageur cosmology -- 4. It is the paddle that brings us : voyageurs working in canoes -- 5. The theater of hegemony : masters, clerks, and servants -- 6. Rendezvous : parties, tricks, and friendships -- 7. En dérouine : life at interior fur trade posts -- 8. Tender ties, fluid monogamy, and trading sex : voyageurs and aboriginal women -- 9. Disengagement : going home and going free -- 10. Conclusion : carrying the world -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

ISBN

0803287909 (pbk. : alk. paper)
9780803287907

LCCN

^^2006013379

OCLC

69020884
SCSB-10802093

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library