Religion, Writing and Colonial Resistance: Mathias Carvalho's Louis Riel

Mathias Carvalho’s Louis Riel is a three-part monograph revolving around a poem about the Canadian Métis leader, Louis Riel. The poem was written by an obscure Brazilian poet just months after Riel’s conviction and execution for treason in 1885. How Carvalho was able to learn of Riel’s activities and demise at the hands of the Canadian Government is an enigma, and in the initial segment of this monograph the author explores possible answers to the question of sources. The first English translation of the poem comprises the middle segment; and it is followed by an extended essay in which Carvalho’s poem is explored in relation to the writings of not only Riel, but of the Cuban revolutionary, José Martí. Reid argues that all three writers were articulating a pan-hemispheric response to nineteenth century colonialism and imperialism that was not only political, social, and economic, but also fundamentally religious.