Student Independent Projects Social Cultural Studies 2015: Confederation, Colonialism, and Post-Colonialism: The Dispossession of Mi’kmaw Lands in Western Newfoundland

Abstract

Upon entering the St. George’s Bay and Port au Port Bay area, one is likely to encounter evidence of Aboriginality. Aboriginal culture is something that is embraced and celebrated in many areas of Newfoundland, particularly on the West Coast. Through the forces of confederation, colonialism, and post colonialism, forceful assimilation threatened to eradicate the Mi’kmaw cultural life from the island. As an historical analysis of the St. George’s Bay and Port au Port Bay Mi’kmaw populations, with reference to the theoretical frameworks of John H. Bodley and Richard R. Wilk, this research aims to show hegemonic forces, such as the British, American, Canadian and Newfoundland governments, directly contributed to the physical displacement of Aboriginal peoples which actively disadvantaged the Mi’kmaq people by further removing them from their identity.