ABSTRACT
Like someone journeying in a canoe who must learn when to pilot and when to be carried along, when to give a stroke of the paddle and when to lift their arms, when to resist the wave or yield to its power, the practice of research alternates between highly planned undertakings and undirected drifting. Because an underlying work is always subtly taking place, the latter approach is only seemingly passive. In this subtle meditation on her own research practice, Louise Vigneault recalls her personal and professional experiences studying the Huron-Wendat artist Zacharie Tehariolin Vincent (1815–1886). Through the research she became better acquainted with the history of the Wendake community, located 15 km to the north-west of Québec City, and also the work of more recent artists, most notably Pierre Sioui. Her studies on Vincent changed her idea of research and of North American historical memory. She came to realize, more than ever, how imperative it is that researchers engage collaboratively with academic and cultural Indigenous stakeholders in order to affect ethical and methodological changes in the form of approaches adapted to their epistemologies. She also recognized the necessity of acknowledging that history is plural and that enrichment comes from admitting the existence of multiple historical perspectives.
