The last of the Wabanakis: absolution writing in Atlantic Canada

Abstract

ABSTRACTPrevious treatments of Samuel Douglas Huyghue’s Argimou: A Legend of the Micmac (1842) have foregrounded the humanitarian theme that surfaces periodically in the novel. This essay explores Argimou as a work of absolution writing – writing that justifies and even furthers the physical marginalization and elimination of Indigenous peoples in their homelands while also relieving future generations of Settlers of any feelings of guilt or complicity that they might otherwise bear. Huyghue’s novel models at least three key features of this genre. First, it naturalizes Indigenous genocide by creating a cultural rival who is self-exterminating; second, it undermines treaty; and third, it creates a clear path to historical disavowal, encouraging readers from the colonizing culture to superficially self-identify as social progressives and as good and faithful allies to Indigenous peoples.