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An article from Études d'histoire religieuse, on Érudit.

Taking the societal climate surrounding issues of race and racism in the study of the past as my point of departure, I propose to examine how it translates into the practice of French-language historiography of Canadian and Quebecois societies. Do disciplinary institutions publish on issues of race and racism? This study also responds to historian Geneviève Dorais’ arguments in the Bulletin d’histoire politique in 2020 about anti-Black racism in Quebec historiography, and to the call by historians Crystal Gail Fraser and Allyson Stevenson for a critical perspective on our discipline in the post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission era. This paper consists of four sections. I first sketch out some definitions related to the concepts of race, racism, and ignorance. I then turn to the relationship these questions have with historical epistemology and the role that the discipline of history has played in the history of racism. In the third section, I present the results of my research on francophone-Canadian historical knowledge production in the past few years, which asked the following questions: Is the concept of race present in this disciplinary field? In what way is it used? Finally, I conclude by returning to the results of this study and reflect on what a better understanding of the critical concept of race in historical studies can contribute to our understanding of Quebec and Canada’s past.

Les archives d'une association missionnaire à Rome conservent des lettres de catholiques du Québec datant des 19e et 20e siècles. Ces fidèles offraient un don d'un, cinq ou vingt-cinq sous pour "acheter un petit Chinois", croyant contribuer ainsi à sauver l'âme d'enfants en besoin de rédemption. Que révèlent ces histoires intimes sur les rapports à la religion, à la colonisation, à soi, à l'autre ?

Les auteur.e.s posent les jalons d’un projet de recherche historique qui vise à étudier la culture coloniale euroquébécoise à partir de l’étude de la circulation de récits mettant en scène le missionnaire du Nord-Ouest canadien. L’historiographie internationale et canadienne de l’impérialisme a connu un renouvellement profond au cours des dernières décennies. Elle a révélé le rôle crucial des expériences impériales dans la construction des cultures nationales métropolitaines. Cette culture coloniale n’a pas fait l’objet d’une analyse systématique en ce qui concerne la société québécoise. Les auteur.e.s indiquent certaines raisons qui expliquent ce décalage avant de montrer que le sud du Québec peut pourtant être pensé comme une métropole reliée socialement et discursivement à diverses périphéries. Ils avancent de plus que le Québec évoluait à l’intérieur d’une vaste culture transimpériale et transconfessionnelle. Finalement, ils proposent que la propagande missionnaire produite par les Oblats de Marie-Immaculée dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle constitue une source pertinente pour l’étude de la culture coloniale québécoise.

Cannibals, caravans under the burning desert sun, “Wild Indians” of the Northwest… these were just some of the exotic images that Quebec schoolchildren were presented with in the 19th century. In addition to being a vehicle for socialization into the nation, the school was also a window onto the wider world and a place to learn about stereotypes. What images of the Other, and produced by which ideologies, did Quebec schools transmit? How did Quebec youth become conscious of “otherness”? What recreative and pedagogical functions did these images serve? This thesis is an effort to answer these questions. The first three chapters of the thesis explore the rhetorical construction of otherness in the school. How was the Other identified and depicted? The rhetoric of otherness took many forms, from cultural distancing to racial essentializing. European imperialism and the knowledge it produced facilitated the classification of the world’s peoples, from which were drawn those peoples who had different and “bizarre” cultural practices. Consistent with the history of Orientalism, such fascination was particularly reserved for the peoples of Asia. But, as radical as the otherness of the Oriental could be, it did not attain the level of essentialization imposed on the “Negro,” defined by their race, and to the “Savage,” whose body was the primary indicator of their identity. Finally, the significant role that the figure of the Indian played in primary-level education is a reminder that it was key to realizing the very possibility of a national existence for Canadians – who were themselves essentialized as belonging to the civilized world. Far from having only been in the background of history, the Indian was at the heart of the narrative as the figure most likely to capture the interest of children. Retaining the interest of children was precisely what the pedagogy of the era was most concerned with as a means to develop various capacities, such as the power of observation and emotion, both of which the latter chapters of this thesis examines. Fascinated by the images they observed, children were exposed to a stereotyped representation of the Other that manifested itself across multiple disciplines. In employing the travel narratives of the European explorers, geography called upon students to imagine themselves elsewhere. The schoolwork of students explored here reveals their curiosity about and imaginings of far-off regions and peoples. Finally, we also see how a missionary rhetoric manipulated the emotional reactions of schoolchildren to poor non-Christian children and thereby used the school to transmit its message. The school setting ensured that children acquired a sense of authority over the Others that the educational discourse presented to them. The knowledge of the Others gave them a sense of superiority and authority. The school also transmitted a hierarchical vision of the world in which Canadian children, even those of the popular classes, belonged to the more privileged categories, that is to say to the white race and civilization. This highlights one of the central findings of this research: children were not defined as French-Canadians or English-Canadians vis-à-vis the Other; rather, they were defined as white and civilized. This thesis also shows how otherness was a pedagogical tool that public education privileged amid its expansion in the 19th century.

L’Œuvre de la Sainte-Enfance connut un succès gigantesque auprès des enfants catholiques canadiens entre les années 1920 et 1960. À travers cette implication missionnaire, les enfants ont été formés à croire en leur capacité de rédemption de l’enfance éloignée. La Sainte-Enfance transformait les enfants lointains en possession, commodités, jeux et personnification à la disposition de l’imagination géographique et émotive des jeunes Canadiens français et Canadiennes françaises. Elle le faisait en s’appuyant sur des techniques pédagogiques et des pratiques antérieures et transnationales de performances racialisées. Comment peut-on donc faire l’histoire de la participation des enfants canadiens-français à cette œuvre en analysant leur propre voix ? Par l’étude d’un corpus de 803 lettres envoyées par des enfants, nous disséquons comment l’Œuvre de la Sainte-Enfance rythmait le quotidien des jeunes Canadiens français et Canadiennes françaises et quel univers de représentations raciales et genrées elle leur offrait.

Exposing the history of racism in Canada’s classrooms Winner of the prestigious Clio-Quebec, Lionel-Groulx, and Canadian History of Education Association awards In School of Racism, Catherine Larochelle demonstrates how Quebec’s school system has, from its inception and for decades, taught and endorsed colonial domination and racism. This English translation extends its crucial lesson to readers worldwide, bridging English- and French-Canadian histories to deliver a better understanding of Canada’s past and present identity. Guided by postcolonial, antiracist, and feminist theories and methodologies, Larochelle examines late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century classroom materials used in Quebec’s public and private schools. Many of these materials made their way into curricula across the country and contained textual and visual representations that constructed Indigenous, Black, Arab, and Asian peoples as “the Other” while reinforcing the collective identity of Quebec, and Canada more broadly, as white. School of Racism uncovers the ways Canada’s education system has supported and sustained ideologies of white supremacy—ideologies so deeply embedded that they still linger in school texts and programming today. Offering insights into how concepts of nationalism and racism overlap, Larochelle’s innovative analysis helps educators confront discrimination in their classrooms and furthers discussions about race and colonialism in Canada.

We know that the settler societies known as Quebec and Canada were imperialist during the "new imperialism" era, but do we really know the process through which they became imperialist? During this period, schools provided the geographic knowledge and emotional place-attachment necessary for the consolidation of settler-colonialism. At the same time, youth imagined their future life in an interconnected world geography that they believed belonged to them. My article aims to understand how geographical knowledge—imperial, missionary, and literary—was transmitted to young people through the school system and how they integrated and appropriated this geographical imagination.

This M.A thesis studies the Paris 1900 World’s Fair through the analysis of newspaper articles in La Presse and La Patrie. In doing so, this research situates itself at the crossroads of numerous historiographical fields. In the second half of the 19th century, both the press and the World’s Fair undergo significant changes. These changes affects newspapers in the way they look and are printed, but also in their content. For the World’s Fair, they evolve and culminate in the celebration of the 19th century in Paris in 1900. The changes affecting the press and the World’s Fair beg questions such as : How is the press talking about the presence of Quebec and French Canada at the Fair? What place do the Others take in the press discourse regarding the Fair? Is there a difference between the discourse surrounding the European nations, and those that are viewed as « Oriental » nations at the Fair? Firstly the newspaper articles that make up our body of sources are separated into four different categories: advertising, political articles, entertainment articles and chronicles. This analysis, though not exhaustive, will examine the significance that the Paris 1900 Wold’s Fair had in the La Presse and La Patrie newspapers. Secondly, the discursive analysis of these articles helps us understand the way Canada presents itself at the Fair. The press reveals how the Canadian exhibits were displayed, and consequently how the country tried to present itself on the international stage. The newspaper’s discourse also illustrates Canada’s will to appear on the same level as other euroamerican « civilized » nations, such as France, Germany or even the United- States, both culturally and economically. Also, the newspaper exposes how Canada perceived the Occident and it’s racialized view of other races. The later are often exhibited during the Fair in « human spectacles » that occasionally take place throughout the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Canada’s presentation of itself at the World’s Fair and the broad strokes of Canada’s ideals at the time, as shown through the newspaper articles, demonstrates unequal racial power relationships stemming from the justification of Occident’s colonial domination grounded in a European scientific racialism.

My master’s thesis examines the representations of First Peoples in French-language history textbooks produced and used in Quebec between 1920 and 1960, with a particular focus on those intended for elementary school children. This research is at the crossroads of studies on Quebec colonialism, childhood history and the study of representations. Several theories emanating from visual studies, othering and performance studies are also mobilized in my study of history textbooks. By positioning itself at the intersection of this mosaic of historiographies and conceptual approaches, my master’s thesis answers the following questions: how are the First Peoples in Canada represented in French-language history textbooks produced between the 1920s and the 1960s and to what extent are these representations at odds with the previous period? How are these representations mobilized in the Quebec colonial imagination? How is the colonial image of the ‘imaginary Indian’ received, appropriated and performed by children? My study contributes to a historiography exploring history of representations of the First Peoples in history textbooks since the beginning of public education in Quebec. The first chapter explores three historiographical fields on which my dissertation draws: children's history, settler colonialism, and representations of First Peoples in North American popular culture. Chapters two and three are devoted, in order, to the analysis of history textbooks produced between 1920 and 1950 and those between 1950 and 1960. I show that the figure of the Indian is mobilized by the authors of the first period’s textbooks to justify the dispossession and colonial violence of the past, notably through the use of political, moral and genealogical arguments. In the latter period’s, more nationalistic series of textbooks, the authors reiterate these same ideas, but with a stronger emphasis on the idea of the ‘civilizing mission’ to the point of cleansing the Quebec historical narrative of its original violence. Furthermore, I argue that these textbooks show the continuation of colonialism in the present. First Peoples no longer disappear from the narrative after the Conquest, as was the case in history textbooks before 1950, but they are still subject to a colonial discourse that denigrates and invisibilizes them, while attempting to justify the dispossession of their lands.

Cette étude examine l’expérience des hockeyeuses de l’Université McGill de 1894 à 1941 en considérant à la fois les conditions de pratique de ce sport par les jeunes femmes et les discours genrés concernant la présence des femmes à l’université et dans les sports, plus particulièrement en ce qui a trait au hockey. La première partie se penche sur les réactions des étudiants face à l’insertion des femmes à l’Université McGill, que ce soit dans la classe ou sur la glace. Une attention particulière a été accordée aux rapports genrés dans l’univers sportif tout en tenant compte du contexte des débuts de l’accès féminin aux études supérieures. En ce sens, la présence des étudiantes au hockey et à l’université, des sphères associées à la construction de la masculinité, orchestre plusieurs réflexions : engendre-t-elle des angoisses chez leurs camarades ? Celles-ci s’avèrent-elles similaires aux discours dominants de la société québécoise ? Comment le sexe et le genre modulent-ils l’expérience des étudiantes en classe et sur la glace au début du XXe siècle ? La deuxième partie du mémoire détaille l’évolution du hockey féminin à McGill depuis ses débuts jusqu’à la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Elle met en lumière les défis rencontrés par les joueuses en raison de leur genre. Ainsi, ce mémoire aspire à examiner les discours véhiculés par les universitaires mcgilliens envers leurs collègues féminines en tant que hockeyeuses et étudiantes. Il cherche également à donner une voix aux étudiantes dans leur quête d’égalité auprès de la communauté étudiante et à éclaircir les origines du hockey féminin au Québec.

Ce mémoire examine la mobilisation de la Fédération canado-arabe, et par extension la construction et le positionnement identitaire d’un groupe d’immigrants arabes Canada lors d’une période charnière du conflit israélo-arabe entre 1969 et 1979. Pour mener cette recherche, nous avons constitué un corpus de sources à partir de fonds d'archives de la Fédération canado-arabe, notamment son bulletin informatif L’Aube-arabe/Arab Dawn, ainsi que de journaux canadiens francophones de l'époque. Les événements organisés par les associations membres de la fédération sont fréquemment commentés dans ces journaux. Le corpus comprend 80 articles, principalement extraits des publications suivantes : Le Devoir, La Presse, et Le Soleil. Cette recherche s'inscrit au croisement de plusieurs courants historiographiques, à savoir ceux du conflit israélo-arabe, de l'immigration au Québec et de l'orientalisme. Sa principale contribution réside dans l'adoption de perspectives interdisciplinaires, telles que la notion de pluralité d'identités. L'étude met en lumière l'évolution de l'histoire des immigrants arabes engagés et explore comment leur construction identitaire se développe dans le contexte particulier du Canada et du Québec durant l'après-guerre. Elle aborde également des questions plus larges, telles que le rôle des immigrants arabes dans la sphère politique et sociale et leur processus d'intégration. Les observations de cette étude conduisent à la conclusion que la pluralité d'identités des immigrants arabes est fortement influencée par la cause palestinienne, qui devient un vecteur central de leur cohésion communautaire au Canada. Le sentiment d'appartenance ne se base plus sur la langue, la région d'origine ou la religion, mais plutôt sur le récit d'une histoire militante. L'analyse porte sur la manière dont les membres de la Fédération canado-arabe naviguent au sein de cette identité dans un espace de négociations et de conflits. Cette recherche offre un aperçu sur un groupe minoritaire et sur leur identité qui nous permet de les placer dans la trame historique du Canada.

Maintenant is a French Canadian catholic paper created by the Dominican Order and published from 1962 to 1974. Its authors are proponents of Emmanuel Mounier’s personalism. According to this philosophy, the true catholic faith calls for believers to positively transform profane society following evangelical lines. Maintenant’s writers postulate that Québec’s numerous catholic institutions are an obstacle to this ideal : rather than encourage believers to reshape their environment, these institutions seek to isolate them from society in order to shield them from nefarious beliefs and temptations. This « system », la chrétienté, is relentlessly criticized and painted as the main cause behind the observed religious decline. Indeed, the monthly publication argues that these institutions are indissociable from an authoritarian stance that breeds conformism and religious ignorance. From 1965 onward, secularism in Québec dramatically reduces the Catholic Church’s institutional presence. The Liberals’ « Bill 60 », for example, makes the government the primary actor in matters of public education. In turn, the intellectuals of Maintenant gradually shift their focus from la chrétienté to secularism’s impact on religious belief and practice. Convinced that Catholicism and the rising secular mentality can coexist, they put forward ideas of pastoral, liturgical and ecclesiological reform aimed at reconciling the two. These propositions are deeply influenced by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) during which a majority of the clergy is won over by personalist ideals. The paper’s authors are nonetheless disappointed by the reforms emanating from the works of the Council as they are deemed unambitious and badly implemented.

This article addresses one of the central questions that has animated the field of children's history in recent years: how to go beyond the paradigm of agentivity in the interpretation of the evidences left by children? What interpretative schemes are proposed to replace it? Before addressing this issue and the archival and methodological challenges inherent to it, we propose an overview of the field of children's history. The goal is to offer a French-speaking readership an overview of some of the epistemological reflections that animate this branch of the historical discipline. Exploring themes such as the relationship between voice, experience, emotion and agentivity, the process of constructing the narrative of childhood through archives, and the benefits of transnational perspectives, this text is a plea for a renewal of children's history in the francophone world.