Constructing Métis Identity in Canada

SARAH MACKENZIE is a doctoral candidate in Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa.  Her thesis, entitled White Settler Colonialism and (Re)presentations of Gendered Violence in Indigenous Women's Theatre, examines the ways Indigenous women playwrights address the colonialist legacy of violence against women as it continues to play out in contemporary North American contexts. Her M.A. thesis, completed in 2010, was an in-depth study of the theatrical writings of Tomson Highway. Her academic research interests include Indigenous theatre, postcolonial feminist theory, Canadian history, and Indigenous literatures. Broadly, her writing considers the way in which people come to define themselves in a “multicultural” space like Canada. She is currently involved in several writing projects that relate to the roles of Indigenous women activists in Canadian history, state surveillance of racialized activists, and violence against Aboriginal girls in Canada.