Resurgent Histories
Resurgent Histories: The Indigenous History Lab at McMaster University is an Indigenous youth mentorship program and hub that brings together Indigenous youth, artists, scholars, and community-based organizations to manifest Indigenous histories by creating digital animations for public dissemination.
Established in 2023 by Dr. Allan Downey at McMaster University, Resurgent Histories is a youth-led initiative where participants are mentored in historical research while taking on a leadership role in the creation of a digital animation. Participants research and co-write–design–and produce digital animations based on Indigenous histories as an act of resurgence.
The idea for the mentorship program originated in 2020 with the creation and release of the digital animation Rotinonshón:ni Ironworkers co-directed by Carlee Kawinehta Loft and Allan Downey. Illustrated by Saki Murotani, Rotinonshón:ni Ironworkers received the American Indian Film Institute’s Best Animated Short Award in 2020, appeared in several international film festivals, and was featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City as well as on all Alaskan Airlines flights from 2021 to 2022.
In 2024, Resurgent Histories created a new digital animation titled Deskaheh (pronounced: Des-sky-hey) co-created by Allan Downey, Tekenikhon Doreen, Jersee Hill, Kira Gibson, and Saki Murotani. Deskaheh details the story of Deskaheh Levi General’s travels from Six Nations of the Grand River to the League of Nations between 1923 and 1925, where he sought to gain international recognition of the Haudenosaunee’s sovereignty.
Resurgent Histories: The Indigenous History Lab at McMaster University is supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program, SSHRC, and McMaster University.
Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History, Nationhood, and Self-Determination
Dr. Allan Downey is Dakelh, Nak’azdli Whut’en, and a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History, Nationhood, and Self-Determination. An Associate Professor in the Department of History and Indigenous Studies Department at McMaster University, Allan is the co-director of Deskaheh (2024), Rotinonshón:ni Ironworkers (2020), and the author of The Creator’s Game (UBC Press, 2018) which received several awards including the 2019 Canada Prize from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Beyond his research and teaching activities, one of Allan’s greatest passions is working with Indigenous youth and he established the Indigenous youth mentorship program Resurgent Histories: The Indigenous History Lab at McMaster University in 2023.