The importance of being monogamous : marriage and nation building in Western Canada to 1915 Cover Image

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The importance of being monogamous : marriage and nation building in Western Canada to 1915

Carter, Sarah 1954- (Author).

Summary: "Sarah Carter provides a detailed analysis of marriage as a diverse social institution in nineteenth-century Western Canada. She charts the ascendancy of Christian, lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage as an instrument to shape and institutionalize the gender order as the foundation of this new region of the nation. It took great effort to impose the monogamous model of marriage on a varied population of Aboriginal people and newcomers such as the Mormons, each with their own definitions of marriage, including polygamy and flexible attitudes toward divorce. The work concludes with an explanation of the negative consequences for women, particularly Aboriginal women, that arose as a result of the imposition of monogamous marriage."--BOOK JACKET.

Record details

ISBN: 0888644906
ISBN: 9780888644909
Physical Description: xv, 383 p. : ill ; 23 cm.
print
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Edmonton : University of Alberta Press ; Athabasca : AU Press, 2008.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-359) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

1. Creating, Challenging, Imposing, and Defending the Marriage "Fortress" -- 2. Customs Not in Common: The Monogamous Ideal and Diverse Marital Landscape of Western Canada -- 3. Making Newcomers to Western Canada Monogamous -- 4. "A Striking Contrast...Where Perpetuity of Union and Exclusiveness is Not a Rule, at Least Not a Strict Rule": Plains Aboriginal Marriage -- 5. The 1886 "Traffic in Indian Girls" Panic and the Foundation of the Federal Approach to Aboriginal Marriage and Divorce -- 6. Creating "Semi-Widows" and "Supernumerary Wives": Prohibiting Polygamy in Prairie Canada's Aboriginal Communities -- 7. "Undigested, Conflicting and Inharmonious": Administering First Nations Marriage and Divorce -- 8. Conclusion.