Dr. Scott Berthelette is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Queen鈥檚 University whose research focuses on New France, Euro-Indigenous Relations, the early modern Atlantic World, Global Indigenous History, and Indigenous North America. Dr. Berthelette鈥檚 teaching practice reflects his research expertise, offering courses and graduate supervision on Indigenous History, Colonial History, and the Atlantic World.
His first book, Heirs of an Ambivalent Empire: French-Indigenous Relations and the Rise of the M茅tis in the Hudson Bay Watershed, was published with McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press in 2022. Heirs of an Ambivalent Empire received the 2023 Mary Alice and Philip Boucher Book Prize from the French Colonial Historical Society, awarded for the best book on the French colonial experience from the sixteenth century to 1815, and in 2024 it was honoured with the M. Elizabeth Arthur Award from the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society for the best full-length scholarly work. Dr. Berthelette has also published his research findings in the Canadian Historical Review, Ethnohistory, the American Indian Quarterly, and Early American Studies.
Dr. Berthelette is Red River M茅tis (鈥淢ichif鈥) and a member of the Manitoba M茅tis Federation, the federally recognized self-government of the M茅tis people of Manitoba.
Heirs of an Ambivalent Empire: French-Indigenous Relations and the Rise of the M茅tis in the Hudson Bay Watershed
Publications
Books
Heirs of an Ambivalent Empire: French Indigenous-Relations and the Rise of the M茅tis in the Hudson Bay Watershed. Kingston & Montreal: McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2022.
Articles and Book Chapters
鈥淔rom Imperial Crisis to a New Vision of Empire: New France and the Iroquois Wars.鈥 In The Great Upheaval War, Migration, and Transformation in Early Modern America, 1675鈥1725. Edited by Ian Saxine and Kristalyn Marie Shefveland. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2026.
鈥溾楾he Crafty Contrivance of the Illinois鈥: Indigenous Informants, French Manet8a, and the Myth of the Missouri River.鈥 American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 03 (2023): 191-222.
With Alexander Peacock. 鈥淛oseph Smith鈥檚 Journal of a Journey Inland from York Factory, 1756-57.鈥 The New American Antiquarian, No. 01 (Fall 2023): 28-64.
鈥溾楲es S莽ioux n鈥櫭﹖oient bons qu鈥櫭 manger鈥: La Colle and the Anishinaabeg-Dakota War, 1730-1742.鈥 Ethnohistory, Vol. 69, No. 01 (2022): 1-27.
鈥淣ew France and the Hudson Bay Watershed: Transatlantic Networks, Backcountry Specialists, and French Imperial Projects in post-Utrecht North America, 1713-1729.鈥 Canadian Historical Review, Vol. 101, No. 01 (2020): 1-26.
鈥溾楩r猫res et Enfants du m锚me P猫re鈥: The French Illusion of Empire West of the Great Lakes, 1731-1743.鈥 Early American Studies, Vol. 14, No. 01 (2016): 174-198.
鈥淭he Making of a Manitoban Hero: Commemorating La V茅rendrye in St. Boniface and Winnipeg 1886-1938.鈥 Manitoba History 74 (2014): 15-25.
- M. Elizabeth Arthur Award for best full-length scholarly work from Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society 鈥 Winter 2024.
- Mary Alice and Philip Boucher Book Prize from The French Colonial Historical Society for the best book in French colonial history from the 16th century to 1815 for the year 鈥 Spring 2023.
- Honorable Mention from the French Colonial Historical Society鈥檚 Article Prize for 鈥淣ew France and the Hudson Bay Watershed: Transatlantic Networks, Backcountry Specialists, and French Imperial Projects in post-Utrecht North America, 1713-29鈥 鈥 Spring 2021.
- W. A. (Bill) Waiser Dissertation Prize for the Top History Dissertation in the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan during the 2019-2020 Academic Year.
