My current research examines the continuity of commercial and social interaction between distant and seemingly disparate French-speaking communities in North America from 1763 to 1803.  This work explores how merchants and voyageurs travelled the rivers of the continent, connecting French-speaking peoples from the Montreal-Quebec City corridor with those in towns like St. Louis and Kaskaskia in the Middle Mississippi Valley.  While the majority of this study focuses on French Canadians, a detailed exploration of the salience of mobility in French North America reveals a diverse population that included Louisiana Creoles, Acadians, French, métis, Aboriginal peoples, Scots, Brits, and Anglo-Americans.  Central to this research is a rethinking of the nature of empire and colonial control, as well as a reformulation of how to define people who fail to fit neatly within geo-political borders.

Future Research Interests:

My primary interest continues to be French North America after the fall of New France.  My future work seeks to expand my area of study to see the full extent and limitations of French networks of communication and exchange in the 18th and early 19th century.  This includes a more detailed examination of the integration of French-Canadian and métis populations in the Canadian Northwest into a larger French North America, as well as a detailed exploration of the role of  trans-Atlantic commerce for French speaking peoples in the interior of North America.