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dashadashahi's review
5.0
Adele Perry's analysis of the Douglas-Connolly family in Colonial Relations: The Douglas-Connolly Family and the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World uses family history to examine colonial connections with the metropole and how changes in social standards affected their relationships. The book demonstrates that family history has flexibility in how people view their lineage. James Douglas' parentage is shrouded in some secrecy as little evidence survives as to his mother's heredity. Instead, after John Douglas left Demerara and James' mother, Martha Anne Telfer, he married in the metropole. John Douglas chose to educate James Douglas in Scotland, creating a respectable, educated, "white" son. Education in the metropole would open more opportunities than remaining in Demerara. However, this also separated James Douglas from any ties to his birthplace and his mother. Patriarchal relations took precedence over maternal connections. Especially when the mother was not white enough. John Douglas' marriage to a Scottish woman and their lineage was left prominently in the historical record rather than the marriage to a Martha Anne Telfer, who was not white enough.
Similarly, James Douglas' fur-trade marriage to an Indigenous woman, Amelia Connolly, had no certainty how long it would last or its legal recognition outside of Canada. Douglas' marriage cultivated ties to local colonial society, which gave him an advantage in the fur-trading economy and positioned him as a permanent fur-trading member. Similarly to James Douglas, identifying with his patriarchal lineage, Douglas and Douglas-Connolly's children's record fails to show their connection to their mother's Indigenous history. Relationships had limits on them. Marriages in the colonies were not recognized in the metropole. Therefore, men like John and James Douglas could shape their family histories to fit into what was socially desirable in the metropole but economically advantageous in the colony.
As Perry explains, archival sources are shaped by the institutions of their time. Therefore, it is important to consider the social, economic and political pressures that influenced the source. For example, James Douglas archived his later life, after his rise to prominence, rather than his childhood in Demerara because it was less socially appealing. Similarly, with the arrival of missionaries and white women in the mid-19th century, marriages to Indigenous women in the fur trade began to dwindle, and "white" families became the status quo. Therefore, children of Indigenous women would have been encouraged to embrace whiteness.
Similarly, James Douglas' fur-trade marriage to an Indigenous woman, Amelia Connolly, had no certainty how long it would last or its legal recognition outside of Canada. Douglas' marriage cultivated ties to local colonial society, which gave him an advantage in the fur-trading economy and positioned him as a permanent fur-trading member. Similarly to James Douglas, identifying with his patriarchal lineage, Douglas and Douglas-Connolly's children's record fails to show their connection to their mother's Indigenous history. Relationships had limits on them. Marriages in the colonies were not recognized in the metropole. Therefore, men like John and James Douglas could shape their family histories to fit into what was socially desirable in the metropole but economically advantageous in the colony.
As Perry explains, archival sources are shaped by the institutions of their time. Therefore, it is important to consider the social, economic and political pressures that influenced the source. For example, James Douglas archived his later life, after his rise to prominence, rather than his childhood in Demerara because it was less socially appealing. Similarly, with the arrival of missionaries and white women in the mid-19th century, marriages to Indigenous women in the fur trade began to dwindle, and "white" families became the status quo. Therefore, children of Indigenous women would have been encouraged to embrace whiteness.
capricelrobinson's review
4.0
I had to read this book for my 4th year class and I liked it. I recommend individuals to read it to get a full understanding on more ways to do history.
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