Tracing Ochre: Changing Perspectives on the Beothuk

Review "The mournful story of the "last of the Boethuks"" still resonates as part of Newfoundland history. The fourteen authors in the wide-ranging collection Tracing Ochre assess this story’s impact and credibility, including accounts from archaeologists, literary critics, and historians." -- Margery Fee ― Canadian Literature, July 12, 2019 (web)"Tracing Ochre aggressively moves Beothuk studies into the 21st century by expanding out from its safe home in Anthropology and History Departments to engage a broader inter-disciplinary perspective." -- Stephen Loring, Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution"Tracing Ochre takes up one of the most complex, controversial, and necessary conversations in Indigenous history in Canada, and does so in ways that challenge readers’ understandings of the continuities and ruptures of Indigenous identities and experiences in a region so often dominated by problematic narratives of Beothuk erasure. It’s a major contribution to Indigenous studies in this country as well as to the cultural and political contexts of Indigenous peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador, noteworthy in particular for its intellectual and ethical commitments alike." -- Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee Nation), Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture at the University of British Columbia Product Description The supposed extinction of the Indigenous Beothuk people of Newfoundland in the early nineteenth century is a foundational moment in Canadian history. Increasingly under scrutiny, non-Indigenous perceptions of the Beothuk have had especially dire and far-reaching ramifications for contemporary Indigenous people in Newfoundland and Labrador. Tracing Ochre reassesses popular beliefs about the Beothuk. Placing the group in global context, Fiona Polack and a diverse collection of contributors juxtapose the history of the Beothuk with the experiences of other Indigenous peoples outside of Canada, including those living in former British colonies as diverse as Tasmania, South Africa, and the islands of the Caribbean. Featuring contributions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous thinkers from a wide range of scholarly and community backgrounds, Tracing Ochre aims to definitively shift established perceptions of a people who were among the first to confront European colonialism in North America. About the Author Fiona Polack is an associate professor in the Department of English at Memorial University.