Colonial Violence in the Canadian Context

This paper explores the Canadian legal response to First Nations participants in the 1885 North-West Rebellion. It interrogates the issue of violence as inflicted by the Canadian state through legal forms. This included the obvious and demonstrable infliction of terror through the public hangings. It also involved more subtle legal modes which deployed rituals of majesty and mercy and settings as diverse as the courtroom or the prison cell. The paper suggests that late nineteenth-century legal forms allowed colonial violence to unfold in ways that are unexpected, yet have larger connections to the experience of marginalized people throughout Canadian history. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome! This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Postcolonial Studies Research Group

Location:

Social Sciences 921

Speaker:

Presenter: Dr. Ted McCoy, Law and Society Program Coordinator, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary. Commentary by Dr. Clara A. B. Joseph, Department of English, University of Calgary.

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/colonial-violence-canadian-context