David Stirrup, Professor of American Literature and Indigenous Studies, along with his Co-I Chris Andersen (University of Alberta), has been awarded £284,000 for the project ‘Métis: a Global Indigenous People’. The project will explore Indigenous histories of mobility, focusing on Métis travel to and within Europe.
Previous research has narrowly focussed on Métis mobility in connection to the fur trade. This project will focus on Métis travel to and presence in three European cities–London, Edinburgh, and Paris. In uncovering, and illuminating, the long history of Métis presence in these locations, the research will broaden the currently narrow focus on fur trade exchange to include Métis figures who have travelled for diplomatic, activist, educational, military, employment, and tourist purposes, opening up this rich history to both Métis and European, scholarly and community audiences and documenting their erasure from conventional/tourist-focused urban histories.
Congratulations to David on this achievement.