Colonialism's Currency: Money, State, and First Nations in Canada, 1820-1950

by Brian Gettler

Overview

Money, often portrayed as a straightforward representation of market value, is also a political force, a technology for remaking space and population. This was especially true in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canada, where money - in many forms - provided an effective means of disseminating colonial social values, laying claim to national space, and disciplining colonized peoples. Colonialism's Currency analyzes the historical experiences and interactions of three distinct First Nations - the Wendat of Wendake, the Innu of Mashteuiatsh, and the Moose Factory Cree - with monetary forms and practices created by colonial powers. Whether treaty payments and welfare provisions such as the paper vouchers favoured by the Department of Indian Affairs, the Canadian Dominion's standardized paper notes, or the "made beaver" (the Hudson's Bay Company's money of account), each monetary form allowed the state to communicate and enforce political, economic, and cultural sovereignty over Indigenous peoples and their lands. Surveying a range of historical cases, Brian Gettler shows how currency simultaneously placed First Nations beyond the bounds of settler society while justifying colonial interventions in their communities. Testifying to the destructive and the legitimizing power of money, Colonialism's Currency is an intriguing exploration of the complex relationship between First Nations and the state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780228001188
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	07/16/2020
Series:	Studies on the History of Quebec , #39
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Brian Gettler is assistant professor of history at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Figures xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Abbreviations xvii

Introduction 3

Section 1 Money and Meaning under Settler Colonialism

1 Money: A Technology of Settler Colonialism 31

2 Imagining Money as a Threat in the 1820s and 1830s 59

Section 2 The Formation of the Territorial State

3 Fur-Trade Money and the Coming of the State in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean 89

4 Treaty Money: A Symbol of Sovereignty in Western James Bay 112

Section 3 Reserving Currency in Indigenous-State Relations

5 Land, Natural Resources, and Fiscal Control in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Quebec 135

6 Relief, Rights, and Resources: State Control of Money in the Twentieth Century 157

Conclusion 189

Notes 197

Bibliography 265

Index 293

Editorial Reviews

Gettler shows that currency is a useful tool for expanding territory, asserting dominance, and disciplining people who object to further colonial control. … interesting for all readers.” Canada’s History


“Colonialism's Currency is meticulous in the development of its argument, drawing expertly on original sources enriched by an interwoven analysis based both on the author's well-informed interpretation of the data and on secondary literature, resulting in an entirely convincing and highly original book.” Hugh Shewell, Carleton University and author of Enough to Keep Them Alive: Indian Welfare in Canada, 1873-1965


“Ultimately, Gettler succeeds in undercutting the idea that money is apolitical. His account is generative, too, laying necessary groundwork for future work on the relationship between colonialism, state formation, and fiscal and monetary policy.” Canadian Journal of Political Science

From the Publisher