THEIR EXAMPLE SHOWED ME THE: A Cree Woman's Life Shaped by Two Cultures - Softcover

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9780888642912: THEIR EXAMPLE SHOWED ME THE: A Cree Woman's Life Shaped by Two Cultures
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0888642911 ISBN 13: 9780888642912
Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS, 1997

Synopsis

Emma Minde’s portraits of the family into which she was given in marriage are touching and instructive. They show us a young woman leaving her home at Saddle Lake, Alberta, to join a household of strangers in Hobbema―with not only a husband she has yet to meet, but also four strong-willed adults who will shape her life: her husband’s parents, Mary-Jane and Dan Minde, and Dan Minde’s younger brother Sam and his wife Mary.

Emma Minde’s autobiography focusses on her relationship with these two women, Mary-Jane Minde and Mary Minde. The education that the newly arrived wife received in their households was built on obedience, hard work and a firmly held set of beliefs, seen as essential preparation for a life of uncertainty and rapid change, hardship and constant struggle.

These reminiscences, told to Freda Ahenakew, offer rare insights into a life history guided by two powerful forces: the traditional world of the Plains Cree and the Catholic missions with their boarding-schools, designed to re-make their charges entirely. Rarely has the interplay of these two worlds―often in conflict, but often also, it seems, very much in harmony with one another―been sketched so eloquently as in Emma Minde’s autobiography.

Emma Minde’s stories are presented as she told them in Cree, with a translation into English on facing pages. With its Cree-English Glossary and an English Index to the Glossary, this work is an important Cree language resource.

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About the Author

Emma Minde, a Cree woman, was born in 1907 and raised in Saddle Lake, Alberta. Upon her marriage, she moved to Hobbema (now Maskwacis). She recorded her autobiography in 1988.

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Publisher
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS
Publication date
1997
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0888642911
ISBN 13 
9780888642912
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
1