The most recent winner of the Indigenous History Essay Prize is Caleb White, who wrote about Indigenous Students and the Nuclear Family: The Colonization of Kinship at Brandon Residential School, 1900-1959.
This annual award given by the Department of History is in recognition of excellent work by a student registered in one of the department’s Indigenous Course Requirement Courses (ICR).
Nominated by Dr. Mary Jane McCallum, White’s essay was selected from more than 30 A+ essays written for an ICR history course.
The ICR helped me realize a passion for history that I did not know I had.
Caleb White
White began his studies at UWinnipeg in Winter 2022 and is pursuing a four-year Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English and History.
White’s essay was inspired by the work of Indigenous scholars and historians whose efforts have brought the often-forgotten voices of students and parents back into view.
“It seems that the schools’ impacts on families are not often considered, and the extent of familial involvement toward addressing the mistreatment of children even less so,” shared White.
Dr. McCallum notes White’s essay for his depth of engagement, “The task of understanding and explaining how the concept of family was used in efforts to exert control is an important one.”
White was able to show that records portrayed a negative attitude about First Nations families in correspondence about attendance and complaints about excessive punishment by parents.
“This is an important, rigorously researched, well-argued, and eloquently written analysis of the federal government’s racist policy of assimilating Indigenous children through, as White puts it, colonizing kinship ties and Indigenous families,” shared Dr. McCallum. “At the same time, it also points out that these families resisted and continue to resist.”
Inspired by his ICR course, White encourages everyone to read Warren Cariou’s piece On Critical Humility. He points out that the ICR reminds us of the value of humility and the importance of listening and remaining open to revising what we think we know about history without ego getting in the way.
“The ICR helped me realize a passion for history that I did not know I had,” shared White.
To help support and contribute to this prize, please visit the Indigenous History Essay Prize.
