Abstract

The study is a qualitative, explorative analysis of historical discourses used in education, borrowing theoretical and methodological principles from critical discourse analysis, conflict theory, critical pedagogy, and multicultural education. From a concern with socio-political relations and education, the overall research objective is to identify and articulate differences between Native and non-Native approaches to secondary level education about the history of Native peoples in Quebec and Canada. In addition to the frameworks of critical discourse analysis and conflict theory, this research is also grounded in the theoretical frameworks advanced by Native scholars and postmodern theorists concerned with methodological and epistemological issues affecting Native historiography and social science research. The analysis compares the Mohawk historical discourses in the Kahnawake Survival School's Seven Generations text, with those in Diverse Pasts , the English-language text approved for Secondary IV history education in the province of Quebec. The analysis points to the importance of discourses on sovereignty, nationhood and territory within Seven Generations , as well as explanations of the basis and rationale for the claims of the Mohawk and other Native nations in North America. The discourses on Mohawk, Iroquois and Native peoples---particularly with respect to sovereignty, nationhood and territory---are analyzed in each text to compare how they are represented and the implications of those representations for the overall education of both Mohawk and non-Native youth in Quebec.