Narratives of Scottish Settler Colonialism in Nova Scotia: Re-examining Thomas Chandler Haliburton's Works

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My project is situated at the interface of Canadian literature and history studies. It shows that literary narratives about Scottish settler colonialism in Nova Scotia have had a greater effect on Atlantic Canada than previous studies have shown. Whereas most studies on the topic focus on images of Scottishness in Nova Scotia in the twentieth century, the present project investigates the works of nineteenth-century author, judge and historian Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796-1865), Canada's first internationally acclaimed author. Not only did Haliburton actively investigate his ancient Scottish ancestry and wrote about it, but his works include a variety of narratives of Scottish settlers in Nova Scotia, which helped to establish Scots as trademark colonists of the region. Since Haliburton's works were widely popular in Canada, the USA and in Great Britain in his time, it can be assumed that his publications helped to spread narratives of Scottish settler colonialism in the nineteenth-century British Atlantic. Hitherto no study of this interconnection between literature and colonial history in Haliburton's oeuvre exists. During my research stay at St. Mary's University, I will sight a number of unpublished documents because there is strong evidence in secondary sources that they include further material on Scots in general and Scottish settlers in Nova Scotia in particular, which have not been systematically studied. These documents include Haliburton's autobiographical writings as well as early editions of his works. The two archives where the documents are housed are the Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, and the Haliburton Collection, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. On a theoretical level, the project contributes to the field of critical empire studies by exploring a form of 'minor' colonialism in Atlantic Canada that has had, however, long-term effects on the region. It asks about the role literary texts played in the colonial power dynamics of the nineteenth-century British Atlantic. My study also promotes a reconsideration of established terms such as colonizer and colonized, which are under-complex as concepts when trying to come to terms with Scotland's colonial history. The project expands on my recently finished study on Scottish colonialism in the seventeenth century, which includes a chapter on Nova Scotia in the 1620s. The manuscript of the previous study is currently under review with Edinburgh University Press, and it has successfully passed the first stage of review. At St. Mary's University, I would work together with three experts in the field of Nova Scotia literature and history (Prof. Karly Kehoe, Prof. Alexander MacLeod, Prof. John Reid), who know my research proposal and endorse it. Prof. Kehoe is also interested in a long-term cooperation with me. The findings of my study will be published in a collection, edited by Prof. Karly Kehoe (see below), which is under contract with Edinburgh University Press.