| The historical and ideological context of Indian-white relations provides the analytical framework for examining St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan during the period 1894-1926. Using primary and secondary sources, this study examines the doctrines of racial superiority implicit within the ideology of "Christianizing" and "civilizing" Indian people through education. From the perspective of "an Aboriginal way of knowing", this study examines the history of Indian-white relations on the Prairies, Indian education, and Indian residential school life to give voice to the struggle by Indian people against European domination. "An Aboriginal way of knowing" means bringing the mind and heart together to find the Indian experiences hidden within much of the documentation on Indian-white relations. This study examines the concepts of assimilation, Indian education, and Indian residential schools to expose the domination, coercion, and the Indian resistance obscured within these euphemized descriptions of Indian-white relations. |
