'The Catholic Mahdi of the North West': Louis Riel and the Metis Resistance in Transatlantic and Imperial Context

The authors examine the transatlantic press coverage of the Metis resistance in Saskatchewan in 1885. The article documents that there was extensive international coverage of this ostensibly Canadian conflict and traces the evolution of narratives about it from their origins in French and English Ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Canadian Historical Review
Main Authors: Read, Geoff, Webb, Todd
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Project MUSE 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/can.2012.0008
Description
Summary:The authors examine the transatlantic press coverage of the Metis resistance in Saskatchewan in 1885. The article documents that there was extensive international coverage of this ostensibly Canadian conflict and traces the evolution of narratives about it from their origins in French and English Canada to the United States, Great Britain, and France. The article resituates Riel and the Metis resistance within this international framework, demonstrating how the story of Riel and the Metis was reshaped by commentators in the transatlantic world to suit local, national, and imperial contexts. Les auteurs examinent la couverture de presse transatlantique de la résistance des Métis de la Saskatchewan en 1885. L'article révèle que ce conflit, canadien en apparence, reçu une attention médiatique soutenue à l'étranger, puis il fait remonter l'évolution des récits que le Canada français et le Canada anglais en firent dès le départ aux États-Unis, en Grande-Bretagne et en France. Ce cadre d'analyse international permet aux auteurs de réévaluer Riel et la résistance des Métis en montrant comment des commentateurs au sein du monde transatlantique ont refaçonné le récit sur Riel et les Métis pour le faire correspondre aux contextes locaux, nationaux et impériaux.