Dr. M.聽Max Hamon
Dr. M. Max Hamon is a historian of nineteenth-century Canada, Indigenous North America, and the Atlantic, spaces which often overlap and intersect. His dissertation was titled "The Many Worlds of Louis Riel: A political odyssey from Red River to Montreal and Back 1844-1875." The manuscript, which has been submitted for publication, is a study of the early political career of one of a renowned figure of Indigenous resistance and founder of the M茅tis nation, Louis Riel. Hamon is particularly interested in what ways that Indigenous peoples have adapted, mediated and confronted the various forms of Settler state authority that emerged in the 19th Century. In addition to his research work, Max Hamon is currently teaching a course at Queen鈥檚 University titled: Global Indigenous History. He has taught a broad range of courses at 91社区 and the University of Prince Edward.
As a Research Associate of聽the St. Andrew's Society/McEuen Scholarship Foundation Chair in聽Canadian-Scottish Studies, Hamon will be examining the papers of Donald Smith, a well-known Scottish entrepreneur and railway investor. Less known is Donald Smith鈥檚 involvement in the events of 1869-70 in Red River. He acted as the principal聽negotiator between the Canadian government and the Provisional Government of Manitoba established by Louis Riel. It was his diplomatic skills that led to the negotiations that resulted in the Manitoba Act. Even less known is the fact that his wife Isabelle Hardisty was 鈥渃ountry-born鈥� or Metis. In fact, it has been argued that Smith and his family took pains to expunge her Indigenous heritage from the historical record. Yet, his marriage to a lady of Red River was an important part of his political legitimacy in his negotiations with the Metis government in 1870, and he actively exploited it. Donald Smith鈥檚 ambivalence with respect to his Metis relations is usefully juxtaposed against the hardening perception of the Metis people over the course of the nineteenth century. It highlights the increasingly influence of racial discrimination in British North America. In many respects his career mirrored that of another famous Scottish governor of British North America James Douglas, recently studied by Adele Perry. This project seeks to explore how Smith, a successful Scottish businessman, was caught up by the increasingly negative representation of Metis identity in the Dominion and explore how it complicated his private and public life.