Pauline Johnson and Her Archive: A Conversation with Dr. Rick Monture

Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) (1861-1913) was born on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, Ontario. Of Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk) and European descent, she spent her early years in the community, where her father, George Johnson, held a position of prominence as a Mohawk Wolf Clan Chief and a translator for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council. Pauline Johnson would go on to become a successful poet and performer, touring across North America and the UK and publishing six volumes during her lifetime. She was a strong advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples and women, writing many newspaper articles on these topics; she has also drawn criticism for her espousal of assimilationist sentiments. She is, as Dr. Rick Monture writes, “an enigmatic figure” whose complex legacy still captures interest more than a century after her death. 

Join Dr. Rick Monture, Associate Professor in McMaster’s departments of Indigenous Studies and English and Cultural Studies, for an exploration of Pauline Johnson, her legacy, and her archive at McMaster University Library.  

Rick Monture is a member of the Mohawk nation, Turtle clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. His areas of academic interest include Haudenosaunee history and oral narrative, American and Indigenous literatures, popular music, and the epistemology of Indigenous language and culture. Dr. Monture’s book, entitled Teionkwakhashion Tsi Niionkwariho:ten (“We Share Our Matters”): Two Centuries of Writing and Resistance at Six Nations of the Grand River (UMP 2014), explores how the Grand River Haudenosaunee have consistently drawn upon their intellectual and cultural traditions in letters, oratory, poetry, fiction, and film as a means to assert and maintain their sovereignty and land rights as promised by The Haldimand Deed of 1784. 

Rick has served as the Director of the Indigenous Studies Program from 2014-2017, and as Acting Director of the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute from 2017-2018. He has been involved with several joint research initiatives between McMaster and Six Nations and currently holds a SSHRC award for a community-based project entitled “The Six Nations Struggle for Sovereignty: 1924 and Beyond,” which examines the events leading up to the federal government’s dismantling of the centuries old traditional government that presided at Grand River until October 1924.

Register for the event here!

Transformative Stories: Year of Gender and Justice is presented by McMaster University Library in collaboration with campus and community partners and will feature a lineup of free, public programming from fall 2023 through summer 2024. The series is part of McMaster University Library’s biannual “Year of” celebrations, which are aimed at highlighting the library’s unique collections, resources, and expertise and emphasizing its vital role in supporting the research, teaching, and learning mission of the university.