Sisters and "Savages": Intersections of Gender, Race, and Faith in 17th Century New France (2011)

Undergraduate: Kelsey Salvesen

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ellen Welch
Department: Romance Languages

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One fascinating but understudied dimension of the colonization of the Americas is the relationship between French evangelists and their indigenous converts. In this study based on original archival research, I focus on the interaction between French and Native American women—two differently marginalized groups in seventeenth century New France (Canada)—with the goal of exploring the participation of indigenous women in colonial religion and shedding light on the important role of gender in the colonial encounter. Among the questions this project sought to answer are whether conversion conferred equality upon native peoples, to what degree native converts could participate in their new faith, and whether gender influenced the roles converts could assume. I found that while aboriginal Catholics were not acknowledged as full equals by the French, they were able to participate in meaningful ways in the faith. This was especially the case for indigenous women, whose faith was privileged in French writings.