Detroit's Hidden Channels: The Power of French-Indigenous Families in the Eighteenth Century by Karen L. Marrero (review)

In Detroit's Hidden Channels: The Power of French-Indigenous Families in the Eighteenth Century, Karen L. Marrero traces the networks of several elite French-Indigenous families in Detroit, revealing their far-reaching political and economic power, as well as the role they played in making Detroit "a center of mobility and imperial way station." (66) When Frenchmen came to Detroit, they entered a world where "people interacted with one another first and most importantly as kin." (10) Indigenous kin networks were strong, and in order to successfully trade, Frenchmen had to find a way to integrate themselves into these complex networks of relatedness. Through marrying elite Indigenous women, they were able to do so and these French-Indigenous families remained powerful throughout the eighteenth century because of their ability to navigate multiple notions of gender and kinship.

In Marrero's analysis, gender and kinship are interwoven in complex ways. Kinship metaphors were inherently gendered, and Europeans and Indigenous peoples alike drew on multiple gender norms to express relatedness and diplomacy in their interactions with each other. European women increased their power by taking up roles performed by Indigenous women, such as traveling, trading, and diplomacy. In French-Indigenous families, women became central participants in trade and, despite many efforts by the state to curtail their power, these women continued to be economic and political powerhouses due in part to their ability to navigate both French and Indigenous worlds. Scholars of gender will be especially intrigued by Marrero's explanation of transgender kinship metaphors. European leaders trying to fulfill the role of Onontio had to act as both father and mother; French-Indigenous leaders used the metaphor of a father suckling children to communicate the responsibilities that French and British leaders had towards Indigenous people, forcing men such as Detroit commandant Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac to perform both masculine and feminine gender and kinship roles.

Marrero successfully demonstrates the ability of French-Indigenous networks to curtail the power of the state, control the economy, and turn Detroit into a "multinational political center." (129) Because of their wide-ranging connections to French and Indigenous worlds, these families had connections across vast geographies, giving them high mobility. These kin networks connected both Indigenous and Europeans into a fluid world controlled more by relational ties than by imperial actors. The state could never truly gain control in this region but was instead forced to negotiate these ever-changing relationships dictated by family networks. When European powers tried to control these networks, they did not meet with much success, and war occasionally broke out as a result. Marrero centers French-Indigenous networks in her analysis of the Fox Wars and she also succeeds in foregrounding the role of women in Pontiac's War by reexamining the story of the woman who informed the British of Pontiac's plans to attack the French fort. Rather than reducing this story to a capricious act of love, Marrero highlights the agency of women and their kinship networks by suggesting that the woman acted for the economic and political benefit of her kin.

Detroit's Hidden Channels provides a solid analysis of gender and kinship in the French-Indigenous world. Like the channels that flowed through the Great Lakes, these kinship networks created a complex world of social ties that were fluid enough to adapt to changing circumstances, and strong enough to dictate the outcomes of European and Indigenous interactions. Marrero makes good use of a variety of sources, including oral history, indigenous languages, correspondence, genealogy, and court records. Anyone interested in kinship, gender, networks, and French-Indigenous relations will find this book a worthy investment.