Monique Giroux is Canada research chair in Métis Music and associate professor of music at the University of Lethbridge
I grew up in southern Manitoba (a French/Scottish settler living in Očeti Šakówiŋ/Anishinaabe territory in the Métis Homeland), where I became part of the very active old-time fiddle circuit. From the age of eight, I competed at fiddle contests held across southern Manitoba and throughout my teens was a featured performer (with my family band Les Gilets) at numerous cultural festivals and old-time dances.
In 2001, I began my post-secondary studies at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, where I completed a Bachelor of Music. As an undergraduate, I focused on performance (violin and viola) and became increasingly interested in critical issues, such as gender, in music studies.
After moving to Toronto, I began a Master of Arts in musicology at York University. My research focused on gender, race, and heteronormativity in country music videos. I also completed a research project on women and the Western art music canon.
It's as a PhD student that I returned to my roots as an old-time fiddler, and shifted my research to the field of ethnomusicology. Although my intention was initially to study Manitoba's old-time fiddle scene, I quickly realized that the old-time and Métis fiddle scenes in Manitoba were so intricately connected that they could not be studied or understood as discrete. For this reason, my focus shifted to examining fiddling as a meeting place between the Métis and settler peoples.
As a Bader Postdoctoral Researcher at Queen's University, I extended my PhD research to Ontario, focusing on Métis cultural events in the southern region of the province. This research allowed me to better understand how issues of recognition, revival, and cultural resurgence shape music practices.
In my current position as a Canada Research Chair, my research first centred on cultural events in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Montana. However, my work has since turned to archives, community music practices, rematriation, and research-creation. I’ve collate a list of many Métis music and music-related materials (more than 1000 individual items) found in archives and personal collections. I’m now working to find ways to (re)connect these belongings to communities, drawing on Métis methodologies and research-creation practices. Please see the projects section of this website for more information!