ALUMNI PROFILES
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ALIX SHIELD
FORK IN THE ROAD
Alix Shield at the SFU Special Collections Library, comparing two different early editions of E. Pauline Johnson’s Legends of Vancouver.
Shield’s transition from the world of young adult literature to Indigenous works came shortly after beginning her Master’s at Dalhousie University. She took a graduate seminar on the topic of 20th Century Indigenous literatures in Canada and felt drawn back to the field she had begun to explore at Acadia. “While I still love young adult fiction (and continue to read it voraciously when I need a break from academia), I felt a deeper, more meaningful connection to West Coast Indigenous literature,” Shield says. There is one co-authored article in particular that Shield encourages her fellow alumni to read. “‘I write this for all of you’: Recovering the Unpublished RCMP ‘Incident’ in Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed (1973)” was published last spring in the journal Canadian Literature. It tells the story of celebrated Métis author and activist Maria Campbell, who was raped at the age of 14 by members of the RCMP. Shield discovered archival documents at McMaster University that revealed Campbell’s publishers had deliberately excluded this rape scene from her autobiographical work Halfbreed, despite assuring Campbell that it would be included. The two excised manuscript pages, crossed out with a red X, are reproduced fully in Shield’s article (with Campbell’s permission), and restore Halfbreed to the life story Campbell had originally intended.
THE PATH AHEAD
Acadia Reminiscence Alix Shield credits her Acadia experience – namely the network of friends and academic mentors she built there – with launching her career in literature and research. “My most memorable experience while at Acadia was the international Harry Potter conference held at St. Andrews University, Scotland. It was the UK’s very first academic Harry Potter conference and it drew about 40 scholars from all over the world – it was kind of a big deal. To my complete and utter surprise, my paper was accepted. I still remember calling my mom in Vancouver (in the wee hours of the morning, West Coast time) to share the news. I traveled to the conference several months later, and the experience was incredible – full of interesting Harry Potter theories and criticism, and without a doubt one of the best moments of my academic life!”
Drawing on her work on paratext, Shield is soon to publish a new edition of 1911 text Legends of Vancouver, written by E. Pauline Johnson and Chief Joe and Mary Capilano. The text will be retitled Legends of Capilano and published with the University of Manitoba Press’s “First Voices, First Texts” series. Shield is working in collaboration with the descendants of the Capilano family to include biographical sections for Chief Joe and Mary Capilano and interviews with Dr. Rick Monture (Mohawk) and Dr. Rudy Reimer (Squamish). Most importantly, this edition will mark the first time that Chief Joe Capilano and Mary Capilano are formally acknowledged as coauthors of the volume. At this exciting moment in her career, Shield feels grateful for the continued support of Acadia faculty with whom she’s still in touch years later. Through them, “I was able to realize the value of my ideas and feel confident moving forward in the world of academia,” Shield says. “Even though I’m now completing my third university degree, at my third academic institution, I look back on my time at Acadia as the catalyst for my successes and the place to which my heart will always belong.”
ACADIA BULLETIN Fall 2018
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