Honouring the scholarship of Métis matriarchsWhen surveying the field of Indigenous studies, Laura Forsythe and Jennifer Markides recognized a critical need for not only a Métis-focused volume, but one focused on the contributions of Métis women. To address this need, they brought together work by new and established scholars, artists, storytellers, and community leaders that reflects the diversity of research created by Métis women as it is lived, considered, conceptualized, and re-imagined.
With writing by Maria Campbell, Emma LaRocque, and other pioneers of Métis studies, Around the Kitchen Table looks beyond the patriarchy to document and celebrate the scholarship of Métis women. Focusing on experiences in post-secondary environments, Around the Kitchen Table necessarily traverses a range of methodologies. Spanning disciplines of social work, education, history, health care, urban studies, sociology, archaeology, and governence, contributors bring their own stories to explorations of spirituality, material culture, colonialism, land-based education, sexuality, language, and representation. The result is an expansive, heartfelt, and accessible “community of Métis thought” as articulated by Markides in her introduction to the volume.
Reverent and revelatory, this collection centres the strong aunties and grandmothers who have shaped Métis communities, culture, and identities with teachings shared in classrooms, auditoriums, and around the kitchen table.
Author Biography:
Laura Forsythe, PhD, is a Michif Assistant Professor at the University of Winnipeg in the Faculty of Education. Forsythe's research focus is Métis-specific contributions to the academy, Métis inclusion efforts, Métis research methodologies, and educational sovereignty. She is also the elected Bison Local Chairperson of the Manitoba Metis Federation.
Jennifer Markides, PhD, is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Assistant Professor in both the Werklund School of Education and the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, and SSHRC Tier II Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Youth Well-Being and Education. Her research centers community-based partnerships that prioritize the goals, dreams, needs, and interests of Indigenous youth.
