Mary-Ann Shantz defends Jean-François Lozier’s Flesh Reborn: The Saint Lawrence Valley Mission Settlements through the Seventeenth Century
As Andrea noted in her Introductory post for CHA Reads 2019, I am not a specialist in the field of the book I have chosen to champion as the best book in Canadian history this year, Jean-Francois Lozier’s Flesh Reborn: The Saint Lawrence Valley Mission Settlements through the Seventeenth Century. But I jumped at the opportunity to read, review, and champion this study because, in my experience teaching North American and Canadian history survey courses over the past decade, the history of northern North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and of colonial contact with the French, has become one of my favourite areas to teach. It is an area that engages, surprises, and challenges students; in particular, I have enjoyed sharing with students the work of scholars such as Kathryn Magee Labelle and Allan Greer, which dismantles misconceptions about Indigenous history (among settler students in particular), highlights Indigenous agency, and complicates and nuances students’ understanding of the nature of colonialism and its evolution over time. Jean-Francois Lozier’s book also furthers these objectives. At the same time, it represents a new and welcome intervention into scholarship through its re-framing of Algonquian, Wendat, and Iroquois decision-making, warfare, diplomacy, and community with a geographical focus on the St. Lawrence valley.
Caitlynn Beckett is currently a PhD student in Geography at Memorial University in St. John’s Newfoundland, where she also completed her MA in 2017. She is a settler scholar from Treaty 4 Territory and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan. Her research interests include processes of mine remediation, environmental justice, impact assessment and community engagement in resource extraction across Northern Canada.
