“I am the first of my kind to see it”: Observation and Authorship in Mina Hubbard’s Performance as Labrador Explorer, 1905-1908

This article focuses on Canadian Mina Hubbard’s expedition through the Labrador-Ungava Peninsula in 1905. In so doing, it examines the notion of the northern non-Indigenous explorer/traveller as witness. It considers two practices that were essential to Hubbard in the construction and performance of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Crooks, Katherine
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Acadiensis Press 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/33638
Description
Summary:This article focuses on Canadian Mina Hubbard’s expedition through the Labrador-Ungava Peninsula in 1905. In so doing, it examines the notion of the northern non-Indigenous explorer/traveller as witness. It considers two practices that were essential to Hubbard in the construction and performance of her identity as an explorer: empirical observation and authorship. Hubbard’s efforts to present herself as a reliable northern witness, in contest with her wilderness guides, also highlight the kinds of racialized, classed, and gendered identities that were excluded from the work of northern exploration around the turn of the century. Cet article porte sur l’expédition réalisée en 1905 par la Canadienne Mina Hubbard à travers le Labrador et la péninsule d’Ungava. Ce faisant, il examine la notion d’explorateur/voyageur nordique non autochtone en tant que témoin. Il considère deux pratiques qui furent essentielles à Hubbard dans la construction et la mise en scène de son identité en tant qu’exploratrice : l’observation empirique et la publication de ses travaux. Les efforts de Hubbard pour se présenter comme une personne digne de témoigner des régions nordiques, en compétition avec ses guides des régions sauvages, mettent aussi en relief les types d’identités de race, de classes sociales et de genre qui étaient exclus de l’entreprise d’exploration des régions nordiques au tournant du siècle.