Latest Winners

The Indigenous History Best Article Prize
Madeline Whetung. “(En)Gendering Shoreline Law: Nishnaabeg Relational Politics Along the Trent Severn Waterway.” Global Environmental Politics 19, no. 3 (August 2019): 16–32.
“(En)gendering Shoreline Law” is a superb contribution to Mississaugi history, legal history, the history of Ontario, gender history and treaty history. Whetung skillfully weaves together archival research with oral histories, demonstrating great sensitivity to Anishinaabe ontology. She critiques settler mythologies about the historical significance of the Trent Severn Waterway and recentres Anishinaabe people on the lands and waters of Michi-Saagig territory. In so doing she makes visible the tremendous impact of settler colonial economic activities on the lands and waters of this region, and moreover, reveals the impact such activities had on Anishinaabekwe responsibilities for water.
Krista McCracken. “Challenging Colonial Spaces: Reconciliation and Decolonizing Work in Canadian Archives.” Canadian Historical Review 100, no. 2. (June 2019): 82–201.
“Challenging Colonial Spaces” is an outstanding contribution on the complex power relationships embedded within our archives. Drawing on decolonization and settler colonialism literature and their experience as a settler archivist at the Shingwauk Residential School Centre, they illustrate how traditional archival practices are built on the power structures of colonial relationships. The article illustrates that the archival community must decolonize in order for Canada to be compliant with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the United Nations Joinet-Orentlicher Principles. Commenting that there is no singular approach to decolonizing the archives and that the work must be done with Indigenous participation, McCracken offers tangible suggestions for how to move forward.