Figures of the native in 20th‐century Quebec: The subaltern and the colonial subject at the intersection of colony and nation

Abstract

This article examines the representation of the Native in the Quebec essay on identity after the Quiet Revolution (1960–80). It analyzes the figure of the Native as a construction shaped by the forces of colonialism and nationalism; it further distinguishes between the two different types of colonialism historically present in Quebec and considers how they have influenced Quebec attitudes towards the Native. Three distinct figures emerge from this analysis. The first, the Native as absence, is explained in the light of Gayatri Spivak’s theory of the subaltern; the second, the Native as a threat to Quebec sovereignty, in the light of her theory of the colonial subject; the third, the Native as Quebec’s co‐colonized is a hybrid figure that does not correspond to either of these theoretical formulations. The author concludes that the use of Spivak’s notions of the subaltern and the colonial subject allows for a clear understanding of how Quebec’s dual colonial past as both settler colony of France and subsequently conquered colony of Great Britain have informed representations of the native, and furthermore that the figure of the co‐colonized is a unique discursive formation that can be linked to Quebec’s self‐identification as a decolonizing society.