Generally I find myself interested in women’s rights, their places in society and issues of inequality between genders. In relation to this course I was granted the opportunity to explore the history of aboriginal women in Canada, specifically their relations with European fur traders. What I learned, and perhaps I have more to evaluate, is that my initial ideas about these relationships was not far off; many of the unions were recorded in detail by white men and as such we receive their perspectives on the women involved. Typically what has been documented does not stray far from what we know of their history. The men initiated relationships with their partners to fulfill their sexual needs, granting these women little to no rights within fur trade society and eventually decreased their native “wives” quality of life and access to their culture, facts which are evident to us now. In the case of my research project although I learned much more on the topic, the lens that I had created to better analyze historical evidence seemed almost out of use. Thinking critically about why this may be, I can assume that because of my strong beliefs and values regarding women and how they have been treated historically (and still to this day), my ability to be impartial and therefore more analytical is impaired.
Besides what I have already outlined about my learning on my research topic in my full length paper, the most valuable takeaway from the work put into this assignment lies in realizations such as the one noted above. It is a lifelong skill for an individual to be able to assess their own way of thinking, to provoke and answer difficult questions or be able to better piece together the puzzles presented by their thoughts. As stated in my page titled “Learning Canadian History” all of the knowledge I have collected over this semester and channelled into this portfolio is here to act as evidence of my growth and understanding of history which has developed largely in thanks to a new lens of thought. This lens when set on history evokes the perspectives of minorities or facts that have been overlooked; it allows me as a reader to better engage myself in past events and reach a fuller understanding of certain situations and outcomes. It’s also a reminder that I enter into “doing” history with my own biases and pre meditated beliefs that in turn determine how I will interpret information in addition to how I believe the initial author has interpreted history.