Mixed Identity and Cultural Transmission : Narratives of Mixed-Blood Women from a First Nations Community
In this master’s thesis, I examine the implications of the Kahnawà:ke membership and residency law on six mixed-blood women from the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk community. With the use of qualitative research methodology, I analyze the participants’ narratives of their experiences with growing up racially mixed. In this context, I explore some of the factors that facilitated or mitigated their sense of cultural identity and belonging. I also explore the question of cultural transmission to the future generation. The findings from this study suggest that Mohawk cultural identity and ways of life are perpetuated intergenerationally in these women’s’ families. The participants make tenacious efforts to re-appropriate their culture and find ways to create their space of belonging. These participants’ detailed accounts add to the Canadian body of research on mixed-race identity and cultural transmission in an Indigenous context.
Mixte-Autochtone Mohawk Kahnawake Identity Belonging Transmission of culture Mixed-Indigenous Mohawk Kahnawake First Nations