Abenaki Daring: The Life and Writings of Noel Annance, 1792-1869

by Jean Barman

Overview

An Abenaki born in St Francis, Quebec, Noel Annance (1792–1869), by virtue of two of his great-grandparents having been early white captives, attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Determined to apply his privileged education, he was caught between two ways of being, neither of which accepted him among their numbers. Despite outstanding service as an officer in the War of 1812, Annance was too Indigenous to be allowed to succeed in the far west fur trade, and too schooled in outsiders’ ways to be accepted by those in charge on returning home. Annance did not crumple, but all his life dared the promise of literacy on his own behalf and on that of Indigenous peoples more generally. His doing so is tracked through his writings to government officials and others, some of which are reproduced in this volume. Annance’s life makes visible how the exclusionary policies towards Indigenous peoples, generally considered to have originated with the Indian Act of 1876, were being put in place upwards to half a century earlier. On account of his literacy, Annance’s story can be told. Recounting a life marked equally by success and failure, and by perseverance, Abenaki Daring speaks to similar barriers that to this day impede many educated Indigenous persons from realizing their life goals. To dare is no less essential than it was for Noel Annance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773599680
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2016
Series:	McGill-Queen's Indigenous and Northern Studies , #88
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Jean Barman is professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia.
Jean Barman is professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and the author of Abenaki Daring: The Life and Writings of Noel Annance, 1792-1869.

Table of Contents

Annance's Writings Reproduced in tile Text xiii

Illustrations, Maps, and Table xv

Preface xvii

Chronology xxi

Introduction 3

Part 1 An Inheritance of Wary Engagement 13

1 Of Abenaki Daring and Captivity Narratives 18

2 Taking a Chance on Literacy's Promise 39

Part 2 Pursuing Indigenous Inclusion 63

3 In Search of Belonging 67

4 Hopes for the Fur Trade 95

5 Letting Go 124

Part 3 Contesting Indigenous Exclusion 149

6 Returning Home to Captivity Narratives' Legacies 157

7 Land No More 198

8 To Belong or Not to Belong 223

Postscript 256

Appendix: Noel Annance's Journal of the Voyage from Fort George to the Fraser River, 18 November to 31 December 1824 261

Notes 275

Works Cited 337

Index 365

Editorial Reviews

Abenaki Daring tells the story of Noel Annance whose life and career spanned the continent. The challenges he faced as an Abenaki student, as a Hudson’s Bay Company clerk, and as a political activist shed new light on the history of Aboriginal education, the social history of the fur trade, and Abenaki history in his times, as he and his people coped with intensifying political and economic pressures. This book makes a major contribution to historical research and will also attract readers keen on new biographies of understudied people, particularly Aboriginal, whose stories stand out as unique.” Jennifer S.H. Brown, University of Winnipeg


“… a fascinating glimpse into the experiences of a man whose career and whose life … dared to challenge the exclusion he faced within the context of the developing Dominion. Carefully researched and featuring many of Annance’s original writings, Abenaki D

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