Throughout this week, we explored the broad topic of “Citizens and Nation” and we focused on the aspects of war and nationalism. Within war and nationalism, we have many other topics that we can further discuss, such as the roles females played in the First World War and how they contributed to the overall development of Canada’s patriotism. In Alison Norman’s section “In Defense of the Empire: The Six Nations of the Grand River and the Great War”, in the book A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service: Women and Girls of Canada and Newfoundland during the First World War, she focuses on the involvement “of the Six Nations women from the Grand River Reserve in southern Ontario”[1]. Norman starts off by explaining that the work these women did was “patriotic work, which on the home front involved both traditional Iroquois women’s work… and very closely resembling… non-native women’s work”[2]such as “knitting socks, making food to send overseas, and raising money”[3]. In addition to this, the women of the Six Nations highlighted their patriotism with the development of “Canada’s first native women’s organization, the Six Nations Women’s Patriotic League (SNWPL)[4], which was formed to support their men in the Great War”[5]. These acts by the Iroquois women not only showed they cared for their country and their alliance with Britain, but also, they were transforming from traditional native ways to more “Anglo-Canadian”[6] ways such as the formation of a women’s organization. The article “‘Holding Their End Up in Splendid Style’: Indigenous People and Canada’s First World War” written by Karine Duhamel and Matthew McRae, also deals with some of the same ideas as Norman states in her piece of writing. With the formation of the SNWPL in Ontario, this made it easier to make “socks and quilts”, “gather food items such as chocolate, fruitcake, and pudding… for soldiers overseas” and “donate money to the war effort”[7]. In addition to the efforts of the indigenous females, they “were not well represented”[8] and faced discrimination. In Amy Shaw’s article “Canada’s First World War, 1914-2014, Expanding the Narrative: A First World War with Women, Children, and Grief”, she also discusses the work females were involved in, in the time of the war. These involvements include “non-combatant, voluntary, charitable, and stay-at-home roles”[9]which was also highlighted in the articles by Norman and Duhamel and McRae. Even though females in the war effort contributed immensely, they were “often partial and [had] incomplete presence”[10] in history. Females played an important role in the war effort, and without their involvement, many things would have been challenging for the men overseas to obtain. In addition to this, the females also influenced Canada’s national identity in the time of the war.
All of these readings contribute to the main topic of “Citizens and Nation” as well as one of the different aspects of war and nationalism. All the readings dealt with the same topics of female involvement in the war and their nationalism, which contributes to the wider historiography of the topic “Citizens and Nation”.
Footnotes:
[1] Alison Norman, “‘In Defense of the Empire’: The Six Nations of the Grand River and the Great War” in Sarah Glassford and Amy Shaw (Eds.), A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service: Women and Girls of Canada and Newfoundland during the First World War, UBC Press (2012): 29.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., 30.
[4] Ibid., 36.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Karine Duhamel and Matthew McRae, “‘Holding Their End Up in Splendid Style’: Indigenous People and Canada’s First World War”, Manitoba History, 82 (Fall 2016), p. 43.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Amy Shaw, “Expanding the Narrative: A First World War with Women, Children and Grief”, Canadian Historical Review, 95, 3 (2014): 401.
[10] Ibid., 400.
Bibliography:
Duhamel, Karine and McRae, Matthew. “‘Holding Their End Up in Splendid Style’: Indigenous People and Canada’s First World War”. Manitoba History, 82 (Fall 2016), p. 41-46.
Norman, Alison. “‘In Defense of the Empire’: The Six Nations of the Grand River and the Great War” in Sarah Glassford and Amy Shaw (Eds.). A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service: Women and Girls of Canada and Newfoundland during the First World War. UBC Press (2012): 29-50.
Shaw, Amy. “Expanding the Narrative: A First World War with Women, Children and Grief”. Canadian Historical Review, 95, 3 (2014): 398-406.
