"as memory permits": Chasing the Spectre of the Indian Agent through Kin and Archive
Date
2023-08-17
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Abstract
“as memory permits”: Chasing the Spectre of the Indian Agent through Kin and Archive is a dissertation in two parts: a mixed-form memoiristic work of creative writing prefaced by an exegesis. The exegesis begins with an historical overview of the elusive figure of the Indian Agent, coupling the extensive historical work of John Steckley and Beth Piatote’s theoretical deconstruction of figure to shape an archetype of colonial power within the greater structure of settler colonialism in Canada. I then delve into the scholarship of archival studies, drawing from Antoinette Burton, Saidiya Hartman, Cystal Fraser, and Zoe Todd (among others) to outline limits of and spaces of potential within the colonial archive. In drawing upon the work Margaret Kovach and Willie Ermine, I consider the ethics of engagement for a settler scholar like myself within spaces like the colonial archive. Finally, the exegesis offers a literature review of biotexts and archival writing which serve as frameworks for my own “archive story” (Burton 6), including Daphne Marlatt’s Ana Historic, Fred Wah’s Diamond Grill, and M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong!. The creative text which follows is a reflection of my process of searching for traces of my grandfather – and in particular, evidence of his role as an Indian Agent – within various modes of archive, ranging from the national archives in Ottawa to the disappearing archive of my grandfather’s memory towards the end of his life. “as memory permits” necessarily interrogates the elusive “voice” of the Indian Agent in its exploration of my grandfather’s role as District Supervisor for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada. While this project is foremost a work of nonfiction, the manuscript also blends elements of fiction, poetry, and found archival text, ultimately shaping a narrative that complicates its genre. Above all, the text is a self-reflexive inquest of my own position as a settler and a descendant of a primary colonial agent in Canada’s long-baked system of settler colonial oppression.
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Citation
Brown, C. D. P. (2023). “As memory permits”: chasing the spectre of the Indian Agent through kin and archive (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.