Performing heritage: Metis music, dance, and identity in a multicultural state

This dissertation studies the contemporary promotion of Metis heritage through performance. Known as a "mixed-blood" people, Metis histories are intertwined with fur trade, colonialism, US and Canadian border politics, and legal regulations for indigenous peoples; while recently Metis gained official recognition as an Aboriginal group alongside Inuit and First Nation peoples in Canada's 1982 Constitutional Act. Metis fiddling, and its respective dance form, are the icons of Metis musical heritage and are often major components of recent projects seeking to sustain Metis culture. I analyze the aesthetics and symbolic associations people attach to these forms and Metis identity more generally using a Peirceian approach to semiotics alongside Michal Herzfeld's concept of "social poetics.";This analysis stems from ethnographic and archival research over several summers since 2000 as well as a longer eight month study (2002-3) in Edmonton, Alberta. My study situates Metis life in Edmonton; however, it is more a study of the many venues interconnected by their virtue of bringing Metis (and others) together. I traveled to several heritage events in western Canada as do contemporary performers, politicians, and other cultural producers. Besides observing and video recording in such settings, I have participated as a learning fiddler and dancer in workshops and classes. I also consulted performers and Metis more generally about their life experiences and ideas about identity and performance. Archival study allowed for comparisons between earlier and contemporary venues for Metis heritage performance and aided in analyzing the influence of changing state and organizational structures on these venues. Ultimately, I argue that "heritage," although often perceived as a site for naturalized identity performance, is a process of identity heavily influenced by historical and legal factors, state structures and nationalist narratives; and yet is still fluid enough to allow for localized, personal and familial interpretations.