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Social Science General

Firekeepers of the Twenty-First Century

First Nations Women Chiefs

by (author) Cora Voyageur

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2008
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773532175
    Publish Date
    Mar 2008
    List Price
    $32.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773532168
    Publish Date
    Mar 2008
    List Price
    $125.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773577541
    Publish Date
    Mar 2008
    List Price
    $95.00

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Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 15
  • Grade: 10

Description

Beginning with Elsie Knott, the first female chief in Canada, Cora Voyageur presents the lives of sixty-four of the ninety women chiefs who have assumed the traditionally male role of elected First Nations leadership. Using a range of qualitative research strategies, surveys, participant observation, interviews, and discussions with focus groups, Voyageur presents the colonial histories behind the issues that contemporary Aboriginal communities struggle with and delineates the resulting leadership dilemmas for chiefs, while also articulating a story that is unique to First Nations women.

About the author

Dr. Cora Voyageur is First Nations and a sociologist at the University of Calgary. Her research explores the indigenous experience in Canada. Her books include Firekeepers of the Twenty-First Century: First Nations Women Chiefs and My Heroes Have Always Been Indians. She co-edited Hidden in Plain Sight: Contributions of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture, Volumes I and II. Dr. Laura Brearley coordinates the Deep Listening Project, an international creative exchange between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, musicians, and researchers. The Project grew out of the Koori Cohort of Researchers that she established at RMIT University and Monash University. Laura is a creative research specialist and an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University in Melbourne. Brian Calliou has been the Program Director of The Banff Centre's Indigenous Leadership and Management since August 2003. His work has appeared in various academic journals and books including Indigenous Peoples and the Modern State and Power and Resistance: Critical Thinking about Canadian Issues. His research interests include Aboriginal leadership, self-government, economic development, Aboriginal and treaty rights.

Cora Voyageur's profile page

Librarian Reviews

Firekeepers of the Twenty-First Century: First Nations Women Chiefs

The 1951 revisions to the Indian Act paved the way for women to officially become involved in reserve politics. The purpose of this book is to give female chiefs the opportunity to tell their own stories. Voyageur, a Dene woman who teaches at the University of Calgary, presents portraits of sixty-four women who have been elected chiefs. Voyageur analyses what inspired them, how they determined their priorities, and the costs and rewards involved in their positions. This book provides an historical perspective of the Indian Act and the issues that Aboriginals struggle with, statistical tables and a glossary of terms.

This book is McGill-Queen’s Native and Northern Series: 51.

Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools. 2008-2009.

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