60th Anniversary Author Spotlight – Jamie Paris

Jamie Paris is an Assistant Professor of English at Corpus Christi College at the University of British Columbia. His doctoral dissertation focused on the tragedies of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. Dr. Paris’ work is focused on intersectionality, with a specific interest in whiteness studies and critical race studies. This has led him to spend more time studying contemporary Canadian and First Nations literature and culture. This paper is part of a larger research project exploring nondominative masculinities in contemporary Canadian Black and First Nations literature.

 

Article
“‘Men break when things like that happen’: On Indigenous Masculinities in Katherena Vermette’s The Break

Abstract
This article addresses inner-city Métis and Indigenous Masculinities in Métis novelist, documentary filmmaker, and poet Katherena Vermette’s The Break. The critical reception of Vermette’s novel has focused on the strength and resilience of the women in the text. While this novel primarily focalizes Indigenous and Métis women, Vermette is also interested in masculinity, and in articulating ways of being male that will allow Indigenous and Métis women not to need to be as strong and resilient. Vermette rejects models of Indigenous and Métis masculinity that focus on perceived deficits in Indigenous and Métis men while showing the impacts of “good men” on Indigenous women. She contrasts this with the impact of toxic settler masculinities, masculinities that create fragility.  In this way, this is a novel about masculinity and the North End of Winnipeg, and the way that growing up in living in the North End complicate Indigenous and Métis masculinity.

Canadian Literature issue 239, 60th Anniversary, is available to order through our online store.