Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) [Paperback]

Carolyn Podruchny (Author)

Book Description

Series: France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D | Publication Date: December 1, 2006

French Canadian workers who paddled canoes, transported goods, and staffed the interior posts of the northern North American fur trade became popularly known as voyageurs. Scholars and public historians alike have cast them in the romantic role of rugged and merry heroes who paved the way for European civilization in the wild Northwest. Carolyn Podruchny looks beyond the stereotypes and reveals the contours of voyageurs’ lives, world views, and values.

Making the Voyageur World shows that the voyageurs created distinct identities shaped by their French-Canadian peasant roots, the Aboriginal peoples they met in the Northwest, and the nature of their employment as indentured servants in diverse environments. Voyageurs’ identities were also shaped by their constant travels and by their own masculine ideals that emphasized strength, endurance, and daring. Although voyageurs left few conventional traces of their own voices in the documentary record, an astonishing amount of information can be found in descriptions of them by their masters, explorers, and other travelers. By examining their lives in conjunction with the metaphor of the voyage, Podruchny not only reveals the everyday lives of her subjects—what they ate, their cosmology and rituals of celebration, their families, and, above all, their work—but also underscores their impact on the social and cultural landscape of North America.

(20071011)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Podruchny’s] study provides a welcome examination of the society and cultural dynamics of this well-known but over-romanticized group of people who have suffered from generations of inaccurate stereotyping. . . . Her significant efforts have enabled her to present a vivid sense of the voyageurs’ world, including much that is intriguing about their values, behaviors, and beliefs.—John T. McGrath, Journal of American History

(Journal of American History 20080609)

“[Podruchny] has written an informative, engaging portrait of the voyageur world that will become the standard treatment for the present age. Podruchny’s thematic approach allows her to illuminate broad patterns and make connections between themes that would be obscured in a more historical treatment.”—Gerhard J. Ens, Western Historical Quarterly

 

(Gerhard J. Ens Western Historical Quarterly 20080602)

“Podruchny’s citations and bibliography display her exhaustive research, particularly in the papers of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the companies that operated from Montreal, such as the North West Company. Podruchny also demonstrates a superlative understanding of the secondary literature as well the various works on social theory that she deftly employs in her examination of the voyageur world. Yet she does so without resorting to the opaque jargon that often obfuscates rather than illuminates much of contemporary historical writing. Indeed, Podruchny clearly has produced a seminal work.”—Annals of Iowa

 

(Annals of Iowa 20080708)

“Organized, clear, thorough, and readable. . . . Perhaps the greatest strength of Podruchny’s book is the admirable depth of her research and the multifaceted nature of both her sources and her methodological and theoretical approach. . . . Podruchny excels in her analysis of the values, rituals and relationships of her voyageur subjects, linking their geographic liminality with the far-reaching changes to their cultural, social, and religious identity prompted by their unique form of employment. She adroitly exposes the many ironies of voyageur identity.”—Emma Anderson, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

 

(Emma Anderson Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 20080702)

“Podruchny’s work is a valuable contribution for the clarity it brings to the daily experiences of the fur traders and the rhythms of their lives. . . . This work will be valuable to those who study French or British Canada and for those who have an interest in labor relations in a frontier environment. Scholars engaged in early Canadian history will be familiar with the broad contours of her interpretation, but will benefit from the details about the daily life and work of the voyageurs.”—H-Net Book Reviews

(H-Net Book Reviews 20080115)

“What is particularly impressive about Podruchny’s work is her skillful interpretation of primary sources. The challenge in telling any story about the voyageurs is the fact that they were overwhelmingly illiterate and therefore left almost no written records of their own. Podruchny garners a great deal of information about the voyageurs from an examination of sources left by travelers, explorers, and particularly the bourgeois. . . . Podruchny’s use of a large number of sources allows her to illuminate for the reader the rich cultural and social lives of voyageurs.”—Brian Schefke, Pacific Northwest Quarterly

(Pacific Northwest Quarterly 20071113)

“A rich and lively portrait of voyageur life. . . . Making the Voyageur World is the most comprehensive, scholarly, and interesting work on the voyaguers, who constituted one of the most significant groups of labourers in nineteenth-century Canada and the North American West.”—Brett Rushforth, Itinerario

(Itinerario )

About the Author

Carolyn Podruchny is an assistant professor of history at York University in Toronto and the secretary-treasurer of the American Society for Ethnohistory. She coedited the volume De-Centering the Renaissance: Canada and Europe in Multidisciplinary Perspective, 1500–1700.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803287909
• ISBN-13: 978-0803287907
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid Analysis about Trade, Aboriginals and Newcomers in Early Canada, February 14, 2008

By 

Signa Daum Shanks (Department of History, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, CANADA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) (Paperback)

So frequently, those who study history think they will not enjoy learning about western Canada's fur trade. Even amongst the folks who specialize in the subfields of the prairies, British North America or indigenous peoples, there often lies an assumption that whatever happened at posts, on the river highways, or in the bush, it will not be particularly compelling.

If any book will change skeptics' beliefs about the relevance of Aboriginal-newcomer relations, economic history or the North West, it is Professor Carolyn Podruchny's effort. When read, it will come as no surprise that _Making the Voyageur World_, Podruchny's very first book, was a finalist for "Best Book in Canadian History" (2007) as awarded by the Canadian Historical Association. For those of us interested in the subfields this work touches on, it contributes to history and historiography immensely.But -as important - Podruchny demonstrates she can preach to those considered very unconvertible. She will reach already-made history buffs and (well-formed) history-haters alike. A scholar could not hope for more.

Podruchny takes the reader on a historical trip to explore how the normative nature of 'voyage' should have a broad definition. Men who decided to be an explorer/trader/New France-representative traveled the land and rivers, but they also entered various circles which introduced different cultures, climates and concepts. Many of their own values were influenced by trade. Yet appreciating Canada's eighteenth and nineteenth centuries using monetary terms alone would be historically incomplete. To illustrate this view, Podruchny explains why someone would become a voyageur in the first place, what cosmologies voyageurs had, how their world-views evolved, how they socialized, how they made money and how they took care of other basic human functions. The roles of sexuality and entertainment in voyageurs' lives, for example, are two subjects Podruchny uses to reveal how journeys are not only measured by the number of miles traveled.

Today, many of those who write about indigenous peoples still underrate or completely ignore events in indigenous cultures' pasts which show the complicated nature of pre-contact trade, personal relationships, and politics. Podruchny confidently assumes that Aboriginals were active agents, and she provides examples all the time about why the rest of us should believe her. By also regularly interweaving remarks about other scholars into the main narrative, Podruchny easily discusses the "history of 'history'" without being boring or sentimental.

Podruchny's writing is punchy, and even funny at times. When she is metaphorical, she is never unbelievable. Like Carlo Ginzburg, she shows how we can notice some moments in the past and then use this information to deduce conclusions about other events previously considered inexplicable. Like the canoes she details in _Making the Voyageur World_, Podruchny takes her reader on a (historical) voyage which is (scholastically) water-tight, full of valuable material and just the right length. And like the voyageurs do, Podruchny entertains, adapts well to (research) conditions in order to achieve her purpose, and leaves us wanting to know more about Canada's pre-confederation times. Her voyageurs make it in the historic world. Podruchny makes it -and splendidly so- in our historical one.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The fur trade and labor relations, May 12, 2007

By 

Richard Weaver "minister, writer and fur trad... (Helena, Montana) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) (Paperback)

This book is a scholarly treatment of the French and later British/French-Canadian fur trade in the northern tier of North America. It looks at the fur trade from the perspective of labor relations, and clearly identifies the differences in class, culture, and power that were common to the 18th and 19th century especially in connection with the North American fur trade. The author covers the ground thoroughly, and readers will come away having learned a great deal. As a scholarly writer, it seemed to me, however, that Podruchny was sometimes trying too hard to make the mundane seem interesting, or to draw conclusions that were just slightly strained. Overall a well-done presentation of the British fur trade from a new perspective, and a valuable recent addition to the literature about this part of North American history.

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Intriguing, February 10, 2011

By 

marie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) (Paperback)

I received this book as a birthday present several months ago and had a hard time putting it down! I admit to having a special interest in the Fur Traders, even though I am not an expert. Podruchny does an excellent job of describing all aspects of the culture and daily life of the voyageurs, and does not neglect small details, even while setting up the background. This being said, however, neither does her writing become tedious. I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the fur traders, or for someone looking to find a comprehensive review of business, hierarchy, religion, gender, Aboriginal relations, family, money, food, drink, or anything else as relating to the voyageurs.