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The Creator's Game: Lacrosse, Identity, and Indigenous Nationhood
Lacrosse has been a central element of Indigenous cultures for centuries, but once non-Indigenous players entered the sport, it became a site of appropriation - then reclamation - of Indigenous identities. The Creator's Game focuses on the history of lacrosse in Indigenous communities from the 1860s to the 1990s, exploring Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations and Indigenous identity formation. While the game was being appropriated in the process of constructing a new identity for the nation-state of Canada, it was also being used by Indigenous peoples to resist residential school experiences, initiate pan-Indigenous political mobilization, and articulate Indigenous sovereignty. This engaging and innovative book provides a unique view of Indigenous self-determination and nationhood in the face of settler-colonialism.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published May 25, 2017
14 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Allan Downey
4 books3 followersAllan Downey is a Dakelh historian, a member of the Nak'azdli First Nation, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University.
As a historian specializing in Canadian and Indigenous history, Allan’s research and teaching interests include Indigenous identity formation, Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations, decolonization, resurgence, Indigenous political history, sport history, Indigenous epistemologies and research methodologies, as well as community-engaged methods. Beyond teaching, one of Allan's greatest passions is working with Indigenous youth and he splits his time volunteering for a number of Indigenous communities and youth organizations throughout the year.
As a historian specializing in Canadian and Indigenous history, Allan’s research and teaching interests include Indigenous identity formation, Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations, decolonization, resurgence, Indigenous political history, sport history, Indigenous epistemologies and research methodologies, as well as community-engaged methods. Beyond teaching, one of Allan's greatest passions is working with Indigenous youth and he splits his time volunteering for a number of Indigenous communities and youth organizations throughout the year.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 3, 2021
KPE200: Physical Culture and the Human Condition
A great book that talks about the history of lacrosse in Indigenous communities in Canada. Lacrosse was used as a tool of appropriation but also a tool of reclamation of Indigenous identities.
A great book that talks about the history of lacrosse in Indigenous communities in Canada. Lacrosse was used as a tool of appropriation but also a tool of reclamation of Indigenous identities.
May 29, 2019
***Finalist in the North American Society of Sports History Book Prize, monographs; 2019***
Indigenous societies across North America have long played ball and stick games – some with one ball, some with two tied together and most with a stick with a net at one end. In many settings this was a game designed to heal communities, to resolve disputes and to maintain social wellbeing. In the 1860s a version of this game played in Hodinöhsö:ni’ communities in the vicinity of Toronto was codified by settlers, and turned into the sport of lacrosse, from which in many setting indigenous peoples were banned from playing…. ‘their own game’.
Fast forward 130 years: a team based in Hodinöhsö:ni’ communities – the Iroquois Nationals is participating in the sports international competitions and after 2005 a women’s team has also made it to international competition. It’s a fraught tale, from appropriation and exclusion to repossession and a sovereign international presence. Allan Downey’s indigenous history of lacrosse tells just this story as a trickster’s tale of reappropriation, subversion and decolonization.
There is no claim to be comprehensive – there is such a diversity of experience for many indigenous communities the story varies and has its local colour, and of course no history can claim to be comprehensive. It does, however, seem representative, as Downey takes his readers through five stages from the game’s colonization and appropriation and lacrosse, through its use in residential schools to build Canadians out of First Nations children, and those kids' use of the game to protect themselves as ‘Indian’. From this he turns to look at a case in North Vancouver (far from Hodinöhsö:ni’ territory) where the game, in its wider settler and indigenous contexts, became a site for asserting a sense of nationhood. The final two chapters then reorient the reader first by exploring the development of box (indoor) lacrosse and the ways it was used as a site of political struggle and indigenous identity-making, and then finally back to the Hodinöhsö:ni’ communities and the struggle for international recognition.
Downey keeps indigenous concepts and indigenous ways of seeing and making the world at the centre of his analysis, which opens with a QgwehQweh Hodinöhsö:ni’ (Cayuga) version of the origin story, where The Creator gives (the game that became known as) lacrosse to humans as a medicine game, and a peace making game. Throughout the book he returns to these concepts, opening each chapter with a trickster event, usually ‘Usdas, but sometimes also with Raven, engaging with the circumstances of the chapter – introducing the game to residential schools for instance. The effect is a rich, layered and elegant text exploring “the change in continuity, the continuity in change” of indigenous encounters with a colonial and colonizing world.
The case is built from written historical sources, but more so from indigenous oral history, from traditional story telling, from situating the game in its indigenous cultural contexts that treat it as more than a sport & recreation activity, but consider it on The Creator’s terms. In doing so he shows how indigenous peoples have used the game claimed as ‘Canada’s national sport’, as a pastime of the middle class and national élite, to assert sovereignty, identity, national independence and pride. What’s more he does so by focussing on competitive lacrosse, the game defined by the settler world, and not ceremonial lacrosse, still played within the Longhouse Tradition (the old ways). It does so in a manner that highlights the significance and potential of indigenous research methodologies to produce a nuanced and sophisticated (de)colonial history of sport, movement and body cultures, and all without breaching protocols that seek to protect the integrity of indigenous sacred knowledges.
This is a superb piece of sports history that, in many ways, takes the end point of Gillian Poulter’s outstanding Becoming Native in a Foreign Land and looks at the indigenous response to the appropriation she unpacks there. It is also an outstanding piece of indigenous studies that should be widely read, by those with an interest in the game, in Canada’s colonial and post-colonizing histories, in political activism in ordinary settings and to social significance of sport – beyond the boundary.
Indigenous societies across North America have long played ball and stick games – some with one ball, some with two tied together and most with a stick with a net at one end. In many settings this was a game designed to heal communities, to resolve disputes and to maintain social wellbeing. In the 1860s a version of this game played in Hodinöhsö:ni’ communities in the vicinity of Toronto was codified by settlers, and turned into the sport of lacrosse, from which in many setting indigenous peoples were banned from playing…. ‘their own game’.
Fast forward 130 years: a team based in Hodinöhsö:ni’ communities – the Iroquois Nationals is participating in the sports international competitions and after 2005 a women’s team has also made it to international competition. It’s a fraught tale, from appropriation and exclusion to repossession and a sovereign international presence. Allan Downey’s indigenous history of lacrosse tells just this story as a trickster’s tale of reappropriation, subversion and decolonization.
There is no claim to be comprehensive – there is such a diversity of experience for many indigenous communities the story varies and has its local colour, and of course no history can claim to be comprehensive. It does, however, seem representative, as Downey takes his readers through five stages from the game’s colonization and appropriation and lacrosse, through its use in residential schools to build Canadians out of First Nations children, and those kids' use of the game to protect themselves as ‘Indian’. From this he turns to look at a case in North Vancouver (far from Hodinöhsö:ni’ territory) where the game, in its wider settler and indigenous contexts, became a site for asserting a sense of nationhood. The final two chapters then reorient the reader first by exploring the development of box (indoor) lacrosse and the ways it was used as a site of political struggle and indigenous identity-making, and then finally back to the Hodinöhsö:ni’ communities and the struggle for international recognition.
Downey keeps indigenous concepts and indigenous ways of seeing and making the world at the centre of his analysis, which opens with a QgwehQweh Hodinöhsö:ni’ (Cayuga) version of the origin story, where The Creator gives (the game that became known as) lacrosse to humans as a medicine game, and a peace making game. Throughout the book he returns to these concepts, opening each chapter with a trickster event, usually ‘Usdas, but sometimes also with Raven, engaging with the circumstances of the chapter – introducing the game to residential schools for instance. The effect is a rich, layered and elegant text exploring “the change in continuity, the continuity in change” of indigenous encounters with a colonial and colonizing world.
The case is built from written historical sources, but more so from indigenous oral history, from traditional story telling, from situating the game in its indigenous cultural contexts that treat it as more than a sport & recreation activity, but consider it on The Creator’s terms. In doing so he shows how indigenous peoples have used the game claimed as ‘Canada’s national sport’, as a pastime of the middle class and national élite, to assert sovereignty, identity, national independence and pride. What’s more he does so by focussing on competitive lacrosse, the game defined by the settler world, and not ceremonial lacrosse, still played within the Longhouse Tradition (the old ways). It does so in a manner that highlights the significance and potential of indigenous research methodologies to produce a nuanced and sophisticated (de)colonial history of sport, movement and body cultures, and all without breaching protocols that seek to protect the integrity of indigenous sacred knowledges.
This is a superb piece of sports history that, in many ways, takes the end point of Gillian Poulter’s outstanding Becoming Native in a Foreign Land and looks at the indigenous response to the appropriation she unpacks there. It is also an outstanding piece of indigenous studies that should be widely read, by those with an interest in the game, in Canada’s colonial and post-colonizing histories, in political activism in ordinary settings and to social significance of sport – beyond the boundary.
December 28, 2020
Interesting and an inside perspective on the history of lacrosse. The later chapters outlining the struggles and challenges of forming the Iroquois Nationals teams is very interesting, specifically with regards to the women’s team. The use of traditional Indigenous names provides a challenge for those unfamiliar. Also, the lack of commentary on the modern professional lacrosse leagues leaves some ambiguity as to their place in the context. The dialogue between the author and Trickster is refreshing and provides a new perspective. Overall, educational and enlightening for a book that is more scholarly than I am used to reading.
August 4, 2018
A very well-written and well-researched book on sport that’s been needed for some time. Blending colonialism with the Creator’s Game and broader Turtle Island history is adeptly and expertly done by Downey. Good book.
March 25, 2024
very good content and incredibly well-researched, but the organization was awful. needs an editor and could have knocked at least 100 pages out without losing anything. could have put it into an article. if he is going to make specific sections he needs to stick to them, instead of introducing everything in chapter one and then redoing it in every other section. I found copy and pasted sentences multiple times, and also multiple typos. love the idea of it but the execution was not as good as it could be, especially from someone like Downey
March 6, 2025
Thus ends my slew of sports book for my sports studies class (maybe I have one more actually)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews