Daughters of Aataentsic: Life Stories from Seven Generations (Volume 100)

by Kathryn Magee Labelle

Daughters of Aataentsic highlights and connects the unique lives of seven Wendat/Wandat women whose legacies are still felt today. Spanning the continent and the colonial borders of New France, British North America, Canada, and the United States, this book shows how Wendat people and place came together in Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and how generations of activism became intimately tied with notions of family, community, motherwork, and legacy from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. The lives of the seven women tell a story of individual and community triumph despite difficulties and great loss. Kathryn Magee Labelle aims to decolonize the historical discipline by researching with Indigenous people rather than researching on them. It is a collaborative effort, guided by an advisory council of eight Wendat/Wandat women, reflecting the needs and desires of community members. Daughters of Aataentsic challenges colonial interpretations by demonstrating the centrality of women, past and present, to Wendat/Wandat culture and history. Labelle draws from institutional archives and published works, as well as from oral histories and private collections.Breaking new ground in both historical narratives and community-guided research in North America, Daughters of Aataentsic offers an alternative narrative by considering the ways in which individual Wendat/Wandat women resisted colonialism, preserved their culture, and acted as matriarchs.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2021

About the author

Dr. Kathryn Magee Labelle (Dr. Katie) is a Full Professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research projects centre primarily on the histories of the Wendat/Wyandot(te)/Huron nations, within their historic and current homelands across Turtle Island (North America). Of particular interest is the intergenerational effects of early colonial encounters on matricentric societies and their relationship to Indigenous governance, resistance and community-building strategies. Her publications include the award-winning book Dispersed, But Not Destroyed: A History of the Seventeenth Century Wendat People (UBC Press, 2013). She also co-edited with Thomas Peace From Huronia to Wendakes: Adversity, Migration, and Resilience, 1650-1900 (UO Press, 2016). Her most recent publication was done in collaboration with the Wendat/Wandat Women's Advisory Council, entitled: Daughters of Aataentsic: Life Stories. from Seven Generations (MQUP, 2021).

Current projects include: a co-written book with Chief Emeritus Janith English (Wyandot Nation of Kansas) Legacy of Love: Tides of Resilience, Regeneration, and Healing; an open access textbook Wendat/Wandat Women's Words; and a public history article entitled Étienne Brûlé: The Rematriation of a Canadian Icon

Dr. Katie's teaching practice reflects her research expertise, offering courses on Indigenous-Settler Relations, Ancient North America, Indigenous Diasporas, Indigenous Women and Biography, and Early North American Ethnohistories. Both teaching and research are based on community-guided, circular and (re)generative methodologies that forefront decolonization, historical biography and the experiences of women.