Bibliographie complète

This thesis presents representations of the traditional ritual practices of the Iroquoians and Algonquians that the French Jesuit missionaries have revealed in their writings. Sometimes in spite of themselves, the missionaries describe Indigenous people endowed with religious powers, descriptions which we will examine. The territory analyzed is therefore mainly that of the missions, namely the St. Lawrence Valley, the surrounding country and the Great Lakes region, a slice of America that remained largely Indigenous during the period of interest to us, namely from 1632, date of the first Relations with the Jesuit Paul Le Jeune, until 1724, the date of publication of the book Mœurs des Sauvages by Joseph-François Lafitau. This careful examination of the Jesuit works reveals, from a perspective of gender history, excerpts relating to rituals and spheres of activity of Aboriginal men and women. These results are confronted with numerous studies on First Nations or on the Jesuits and their North American missions. This multidisciplinary convergence then leads us to ask: what do missionaries see, or do not see, in the role of men, women, and to some extent, “men-women” and “women-men” within Aboriginal rituals, and in what circumstances?