Canadian-American Center

	Previously Funded Graduate Students
	Graduate Students Funded by the Canadian-American Center, 2005-2006 Canadian-American Center Assistantships Sarah Barnard Sarah.Barnard@umit.maine.edu Department of Modern Languages & Classics, Little Hall Acadian-Native American Relations in the novels of Antonine Maillet La Relation Acadienne-Amerindienne au travers les romans de Antonine Maillet
	Spring 2006: Acadian -Native American Relations in the novels of Antonine Maillet Summer 2006: Acadian -Native American Relations before 1755 before the Expulsion of the Acadiens concerning an exchange of material and intellectual resources in • the creation and workings of political structures and powers • land use • the art and science of medicine. Printemps 2006: La Relation Acadienne-Amerindienne au travers les romans de Antonine Maillet Été 2006: La Relation Acadienne-Amerindien avant 1755 avant l’Expulsion des Acadiens en ce qui concerne un échange des ressources matérielles et intellectuelles • les formations de structures et le fonctionnement des pouvoirs politiques • l’usage de la terre • l’art et la science de médecine.
	Sami Jeskanen Sami.Jeskanen@umit.maine.edu Department of History, Stevens Hall Trudeau and the American Presidents – The Diplomatic Management of Personal Relations
	Pierre Elliott Trudeau emerged from being a little known Montreal lawyer to one of the most famous political figures of the twentieth century. His tenure as a Prime Minister lasted from April of 1968 to June of 1984. While he was in office he witnessed many domestic and foreign crises and conflicts that tested his leadership qualities. His leadership style, and personal style, separated him from other leaders of the world. His flamboyant and sometimes mildly arrogant presence often aggravated others, but more often than not – he charmed the masses. During his era he developed many interesting relationships with other world leaders, and from a Canadian-American perspective the most crucial ones were his relationships to the American presidents. Since his tenure covers roughly sixteen years it is obvious that he had to work with several presidents, five in all – Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. With all of whom, Trudeau developed relationships that varied a great deal from one president to another, from foe to a friend and vice versa.
	Veronique Theriault Veronique.Theriault@umit.maine.edu Department of Resource Economics and Policy Marketing Opportunities for Maple Syrup
	One goal of the research is to investigate methods of adding value to Maine’s maple syrup production. In Maine, the vast majority of syrup is sold in bulk. One possibility of reducing the amount sold in bulk is to increase the quantity of Maine syrup sold to Maine consumers. In Quebec, restaurants combine entertainment (e.g. sleigh rides, traditional music and dancing) with maple-themed meals. As part of an effort to add value to Maine’s maple syrup I began exploring the possibility of using Maine’s Quebec and French heritage to help increase the sales of maple syrup through local restaurants. Using the geographic information systems, I identified maple farms closest to people of Quebec and French heritage. Due to the heritage factor it is felt that these people will have a greater likelihood to consumer the maple based meals and partake in the experience. Sugar shacks that currently participate in promotional activities, and who are close to these population groups, are thought to have a better chance of adding a maple-syrup-theme restaurant to their operation. I combined social-demographic data with maple farm data (location, size, participation in promotional activities) to create maps showing the ideal location to introduce these restaurants. I presented this research to Maine maple producers at the Agricultural Trade Show last January. In order to increase Maine maple syrup demand, the Department of Resource Economics and Policy, in collaboration with the local restaurant Bear Brew Pub, organized a maple week-end last October. The Bear Brew’s consumers could taste several meals based on maple syrup and also, a maple beer. Based on this experience, we plan on revising the plan and finding other restaurants to experiment with the maple based meals.
	Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Paul Buck Paul.Buck@umit.maine.edu Department of History, Stevens Hall Le rôle de l'épistémologie et de la pédagogie de l'histoire canadienne au Québec (1960-1968) par rapport à la création et à l'aménagement de la mémoire collective : perspectives, analyse et évolution
	This project asserts, in short, that the manner in which both students learned and teachers presented Canadian history in Quebec during the so-called "Quiet Revolution" of the 1960s profoundly affected the dynamics of collective memory in the province.
	Mary Okin Mary.Okin@umit.maine.edu Department of History, Stevens Hall The Diagnosis and Treatment of Mental Disorders in Women in Quebec, 1880-1940.
	This dissertation constitutes an examination of the ways in which women were diagnosed and treated for mental illness in Quebec from 1880 to 1940. This time frame marks a period of significant change in the field of psychiatry, from an asylum model of diagnosis and treatment of mental illness to the professionalization of psychiatry first within the asylum milieu and then in the academic communities, and from medical models that prioritized biology to both more physical interventionist and psychoanalytically-oriented modes of treatment. The subfield of psychiatric history is a rich one and much has been written on the subject from many different vantage points. However, as Thomas Brown has noted, it is still a relatively new field in Quebec. There are many questions to be explored concerning the evolution of psychiatry in Quebec, particularly in its diagnosis and treatment of female patients. For example, how did the psychiatric profession as practiced in Quebec compare to that practiced in English Canada, the United States or Europe? Did the fact that the Catholic Church operated several of Quebec’s principal asylums have an impact on the ways in which mental illness was viewed and treated? Were women subjected to gynecological surgery for mental disorders in Quebec as they were in Ontario during this time period? What medical journals were Quebec alienists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reading and what were the principal theories regarding the etiology and course of mental illness? Was there a difference in how English-speaking and French-speaking Quebecois viewed and treated psychiatric disorder? Finally, how did the diagnosis and treatment of women’s mental illness in Quebec evolve over this sixty-year period? This dissertation proposes to answer several of the above questions, as well as others that may emerge as the research progresses. In this dissertation, a feminist analysis will be adopted in examining the ways in which psychiatric and medical discourses concerning women’s mental illness in Quebec may have been colored by particular gendered notions.
	Lise Pelletier Lise.Pelletier@umit.maine.edu French, Department of Modern Languages and Classics
	Today’s Acadians are the French-speaking inhabitants of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. They are the descendents of the French families who settled in Acadie in 1604 and the 18,000 people who were forced into exiled by the British authorities between 1755 and 1763. After the 1763 Treaty of Paris, many of the displaced families made their way back to their homeland, Acadie, renamed Nova Scotia in 1713 following the Treaty of Utrecht England gained possession of the French colonies of La Baie d’Hudson (Hudson Baissuesy Territories), Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland), and Acadie. In the tide of Loyalist soldiers flooding the British New Brunswick after the American Revolution, Acadians quickly became a minority, politically and linguistically. For over a hundred years, Acadians subsisted meagerly while struggling to rebuild the homes and lands destroyed a century before. Following the example of their Québécois neighbors, they organized and began advocating for the same rights and access to education and political power as the Anglophone counterparts of New Brunswick enjoyed. Although Acadians grew to represent 34% of the population, and fought relentlessly, it wasn’t until 1963 that the first French Université de Moncton opened its doors to French speakers; 1969 until French was recognized as an official language of the province; and 1982 until French Canadians were given the status of “Founding Nation” along with English Canadians, with equal rights in the realms of politics, education, and economy. In the turbulent years of the 1970’s, Acadian poets gave voice to a people silenced for centuries. Breaking from “standard” French, they wrote in their own words the stark realities of their world. Their anguished identity crisis matured over the decades into the celebration of a distinct Acadian identity, rich with strong traditions of oral literature, music, creativity, and joy of life. As Acadians gained recognition at the local and national levels, their literature blossomed into other genres, including the novel. I am drawn to investigate the nature, complexities, and the future of the Acadian novel. Since the 1980’s, Acadians writers have produced over two hundred novels. This number may appear insubstantial, but it is quite impressive when one considers the minority context in which these texts were produced. Men authored most of these novels. Why is it that there are so few Acadian novels written by women? Do Acadian women write their identity differently than Acadian men? Acadian poetry been instrumental in the survival of the French language and the Acadian culture in New Brunswick, in the Maritime Provinces, and in the world. Over 4,000,000 people claim Acadian ancestry today. Do Acadian novels have the same nationalistic bent? Can Acadian literature provide a blueprint for other ethnic minorities in Canada and in the United States? These are some of the questions I am investigating.
	New England-Atlantic Provinces-Quebec Fellowships Bertrand Pelletier Bertrand.Pelletier@umit.maine.edu Climate Change Institute, Edward T. Bryand Global Sciences Center Ice Marginal Environments at Munsungun Quarry: Investigating Paleoindian Quarry Activities at Munsungan Lake
	This proposal seeks to investigate and date glacial features closely associated with paleoindian quarrying activities in order to determine if humans were utilizing an Ice Edge Environment in northern Maine. Over twenty years ago, Robson Bonnichsen, Harold Borns, Stephen Pollock and other University of Maine researchers identified the Munsungan Lake region as a critical paleoindian resource. However, despite previous investigations, the archaeological significance of the region has yet to be fully realized. The area is the source of "Munsungun" chert, commonly found in paleoindian sites throughout New England. Recent evidence has demonstrated a re-advance of glacial ice in a tundra based environment during the Younger Dryas period coeval with paleoindian exploitation of the Munsungun quarry. Relict shorelines and prehistoric channels suggestive of an ice damned lake (see graphic) are present within close proximity to the Windy City paleoindian lithic workshop. Identifying this relict lake and determining whether it existed in conjunction with human occupation would contribute significantly in understanding paleoindian settlement patterns and long distance seasonal migration. The reconstruction of paleoenvironments at Munsungan Lake will help determine if Maine's earliest inhabitants utilized relict lakeshores in an active glacial environment during the Younger Dryas (YD). Raised post-Pleistocene lake levels may explain the lack of peleoindian materials in modern lakeside settings. Establishing temporal control over these features will define YD ice margins in the region. Refinement of YD ice margins would highlight areas for archaeological survey. The presence of an active glacial environment with higher lake levels would affect the way humans moved about the landscape. The thoroughfare between Chase and Munsungan Lakes (Graphic) has been described as a glacial spillway that existed in an ice marginal environment (Bonnichsen 1981). Until recently, such landforms were thought to predate the presence of humans in the region. However, the identification of till overlying a layer of well formed peat in Oxbow, Maine documents the 10.500 CyrB.P advance of a remnant ice cap (Newman et al. 1985, Borns et al. 2004). A similar YD ice advance occurred near the Debert paleoindian site in Nova Scotia (Stea et al. 1998). The presence of active glacial ice in close proximity to the Munsungun quarry during the YD poses questions regarding the age of glacial features in the area. Ice edges have recently been identified as productive environments for caribou hunting. Modern changes in climate have exposed archaeological evidence from melting glaciers in the Canadian Yukon. "Dozens of ice patches containing organic remains dating to more than 8,000 years BP have been identified" (Farnell et al. 2004, p.248). These artifacts provide evidence for long term caribou exploitation in an Ice Edge Environment and provide an interesting analogue which can be explored in northern Maine. By studying the distribution of lithic materials on the landscape archaeologists can begin to understand complex cultural systems. The bull Brook paleoindian site in Ipswich, Massachusetts is over 400km south of the Munsungun quarry. Fifty percent of the examined Bull Brook lithic assemblage is Munsungun chert (Pollock et al, 1999) linking both sites via the transport of high grade stone. The data collected at the quarry site will recreate the paleolandscape at the "northern end" of this extensive lithic transport route, positively impacting the overall understanding of human mobility in Maine/Maritimes paleoindian archaeology.
	Brian Payne Brian.Payne@umit.maine.edu Department of History, Stevens Hall Fishing a Borderless Sea: Law and Protest in the North Atlantic Fisheries, 1871-1910.
	The North Atlantic’s fishing industry covered a vast geographic and socioeconomic unit. Those who participated in the industry, both merchants and workers, operated within a global economy. Markets for fish products were not always domestic; in fact the majority of fish caught was shipped to foreign markets in the Mediterranean and the West Indies. The capital that was invested in the industry came from London, Halifax, Boston, and other economic centers throughout the Atlantic world. Fishermen harvested their products from international waters and often encroached upon protected waters of foreign nations. Within these waters there existed a complex combination of domestic and international legal codes and management policies. As a result, capitalists, fishermen, and lawyers each understood the fisheries and different ways, basing their understanding on differing perceptions of the Atlantic and its uses. Newfoundland fishermen saw their local fishery as not only a means of subsistence and survival, but also a bulwark of local culture stability. Boston capitalists, on the other hand, saw the resource as a means of amassing profits. Finally, lawyers, particularly international lawyers, saw the fisheries as an abstract, yet “logical,” construction of legal precedence and commonly accepted codes of law and international relations. This research will examine how each of these perceptions were constructed over time, and, more importantly, how these ideas were communicated across cultural and class lines.
	Historical Atlas of Maine Graduate Research Assistantships Dale Potts Dale.Potts@umit.maine.edu Department of History, Stevens Hall
	Discussion of the “Great Forest,” the “North Woods,” and the “Big Woods” refers, in part, to the northern conifer and hardwood forest, a vast geographic region existing in tracts across the boundary states and provinces between the United States and Canada. Since the nineteenth century, presentations of this forest environment in popular literature, a strong force in the cultural perceptions of a region, contain competing ideas of forest use. These ideas include a working landscape of labor, but also a tourist landscape of forest appreciation. The Maine forest is a case study for understanding these popular values. This project addresses popular perceptions of the Maine north woods in regional and national popular literature from 1850-1950. Writers, working inside and outside the lumber and tourist industries, created popular images of the northern forest and the local people who lived and worked there. As popular literature moved into the twentieth century, the presentation of working landscapes and wild lands moved toward an ecological reconciliation based, in part, on author connections to the local communities and forests they wrote of in their works. Publications about the north woods continue to impact perceptions of the forest landscape and the people who live and work in the shade of its trees.
	Micah Pawling Micah.Pawling@umit.maine.edu Department of History, Stevens Hall Petitions and the Reconfiguration of Homeland: Persistence and Tradition Among Wabanaki Peoples in the Nineteenth Century.
	Beginning in the late-eighteenth century as Euro-American officials gradually established the Canadian-American border, many different Native American groups all across North America experienced this imposed division over their homeland. This study examines how nineteenth-century Wabanaki peoples, through the use of petitions, wielded their influence in the new geo-political realities of a border across their homeland. Specifically, it explores why the Penobscots, Passamaquoddies, and Maliseets adopted the Euro-American practice of submitting petitions or formal written requests to provincial, state, and federal governments. Concerned with the resettlement of their homeland in present-day eastern Maine, western New Brunswick, and the southern shore of Quebec, Wabanaki peoples found their previous methods of negotiation at colonial conferences with Euro-Americans were gradually becoming obsolete. Native petitions initiated communication with governments, showing that tribal leaders were politically savvy. This work examines the ways in which Wabanaki peoples have maintained their distinct cultural identity and sense of homeland in the nineteenth-century borderland region, particularly how petitions advanced this concern. It explores how the Canadian-American border impacted a Native homeland and the ways in which Wabanaki people negotiated with different government entities. Equally significant as the international border was the adjustment of Wabanaki family bands to reservation or reserve boundaries across their homeland and how they created and resisted their own boundary lines for survival.
	Last updated: 17 July, 2007