"Researching the devils": A study of brokerage at the Indian residential school, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia.
Date
1997
Authors
Thomson-Millward, Marilyn Elaine.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dalhousie University
Abstract
Description
In this case history of the Shubenacadie school, those involved in operating the institution have been placed within a patron-broker-client model to assist in assessing their positions and possibilities for power. This three-role model is used particularly as a means of understanding brokerage, or the middle role between Indian Affairs and the Micmac, a position considered here as being held by both the reserve agents and the school personnel. A duality was found as well within the patron and client roles, for the patron was not only the government but the church, and the client was both the child in the school and the parents on the reserve. The agent in the middle, or on site, was responsible for mediation between the government and people, but from that vantage point could alter messages, misrepresenting the client to the patron and usurping the power of the patron; it was at such times of manoeuvre that the middleman became a true broker. The model was considered as a chain with patron and client on opposite ends, or a triangle with power perceived possible from any angle, but it was found to operate more accurately as a web, its crossing and concentric lines of communication increasing the sense of entanglement implied in the word.
Evident beneath this study is the complexity of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School's history, seen through the diverse perspectives of the various groups of actors. Still existing in the conflicting, living memories of its patrons, brokers, and clients, the residential school experience is difficult to assess, but the model has sought to illuminate it by raising questions regarding patronage, fair exchange, mediation, salvation, benevolence, friendship, and the history of education.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1997.
Evident beneath this study is the complexity of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School's history, seen through the diverse perspectives of the various groups of actors. Still existing in the conflicting, living memories of its patrons, brokers, and clients, the residential school experience is difficult to assess, but the model has sought to illuminate it by raising questions regarding patronage, fair exchange, mediation, salvation, benevolence, friendship, and the history of education.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1997.
Keywords
Education, Administration., Education, History of., Political Science, Public Administration., Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies.