1. Some thoughts on John A. Macdonald & famine relief inspired by James Daschuk's brilliant Clearing the Plains: http://www.amazon.ca/Clearing-Plains-Politics-Starvation-Aboriginal/dp/0889772967 …
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Replying to @HeerJeet
2. Our understanding of late 19th century history transformed by new environmental history & awareness of political economy of famine
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Replying to @HeerJeet
3. Amartya Sen has taught us that famines always have political dimension & Mike Davis environmental roots of "Late Victorian Holocausts"
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4. The global famines of late 1870s in Asia, Africa & western Canada offshoot of El Nino effect & opportunity to consolidate empire.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
5. In famines of late 1870s there was abundance of food to provide relief but not shared for reasons of ideology (free trade) & control
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6. In Canada El Nino famines coincided with period of treaty negotiations & desire to clear the plains for white settlement.
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7. Prior to El Nino famines, Native/White relationship in Canada much more equal: famine (and withholding food) devastated Native autonomy
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8. Daschuck: "For years, gov't officials withheld food from aboriginal people until they moved to their appointed reserves..."
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9. "...forcing them to trade freedom for rations. Once on reserves, food placed in ration houses was withheld for so long that much of..."
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10. "...it rotted while the people it was intended to feed fell into a decades-long cycle of malnutrition, suppressed immunity & sickness."
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Replying to @HeerJeet
11. So: Macdonald's policy of clearing the plains involved policies that starved thousands. What are we to make of it?
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Replying to @HeerJeet
12. On one hand, context of British empire is crucial. Similar policies at that very same moment carried out in Africa & Asia.
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