Darryl LeRoux

Depuis vingt ans, l'auto-autochtonisation de Blancs, plus particuli rement de Franco-descendants du Canada (et des tats-Unis) qui se servent d'une anc tre n e au 17e si cle pour revendiquer une identit autochtone contemporaine, conna t un essor sans pr c dent. Les donn es de recensement sont r v latrices le taux de croissance du nombre de personnes s'identifiant comme M tis au Qu bec, en Nouvelle- cosse et au Nouveau-Brunswick a de loin d pass celui des personnes s'identifiant comme M tis l' chelle nationale.Cette tude ne porte pas sur les personnes qui ont t d poss d es de leur identit par des politiques coloniales, ni sur les efforts men s par celles-ci sur plusieurs g n rations pour renouer avec leur communaut . Elle vise plut t d construire le ph nom ne de l'auto-autochtonisation en s'attardant aux causes, aux m canismes et aux objectifs cach s de ce processus de r invention identitaire, r v lant ainsi la vision biologisante et racisante qui le sous-tend. L'ouvrage pr sente des pratiques g n alogiques ou g n tiques exploit es pour justifier cette nouvelle identit m tisse, puis analyse les id ologies et les revendications politiques des deux principales organisations de M tis de l'Est au Qu bec.Au fil des discours et des pratiques d'ascendance qu'elle expose, cette tude permet d'appr hender les cons quences de l'auto-autochtonisation sur l'autod termination et la souverainet autochtones. Surtout, elle montre que les efforts men s par les Franco-descendants pour brouiller les limites entre blanchit et autochtonit s'inscrivent dans une longue histoire de domination coloniale.Initialement paru en anglais (University of Manitoba Press, 2019), Ascendance d tourn e devrait int resser tous les Canadiens l'heure de la r conciliation avec les Peuples autochtones.

Distorted Descent examines a social phenomenon that has taken off in the twenty-first century: otherwise white, French descendant settlers in Canada shifting into a self-defined 'Indigenous' identity. This study is not about individuals who have been dispossessed by colonial policies, or the multi-generational efforts to reconnect that occur in response. Rather, it is about white, French-descendant people discovering an Indigenous ancestor born 300 to 375 years ago through genealogy and using that ancestor as the sole basis for an eventual shift into an 'Indigenous' identity today.After setting out the most common genealogical practices that facilitate race shifting, Leroux examines two of the most prominent self-identified 'Indigenous' organizations currently operating in Quebec. Both organizations have their origins in committed opposition to Indigenous land and territorial negotiations, and both encourage the use of suspect genealogical practices.Distorted Descent brings to light to how these claims to an 'Indigenous' identity are then used politically to oppose actual, living Indigenous peoples, exposing along the way the shifting politics of whiteness, white settler colonialism, and white supremacy.

Distorted Descent examines a social phenomenon that has taken off in the twenty-first century: otherwise white, French descendant settlers in Canada shifting into a self-defined 'Indigenous' identity. This study is not about individuals who have been dispossessed by colonial policies, or the multi-generational efforts to reconnect that occur in response. Rather, it is about white, French-descendant people discovering an Indigenous ancestor born 300 to 375 years ago through genealogy and using that ancestor as the sole basis for an eventual shift into an 'Indigenous' identity today.After setting out the most common genealogical practices that facilitate race shifting, Leroux examines two of the most prominent self-identified 'Indigenous' organizations currently operating in Quebec. Both organizations have their origins in committed opposition to Indigenous land and territorial negotiations, and both encourage the use of suspect genealogical practices. Distorted Descent brings to light to how these claims to an 'Indigenous' identity are then used politically to oppose actual, living Indigenous peoples, exposing along the way the shifting politics of whiteness, white settler colonialism, and white supremacy.