Mathieu Arsenault

Mathieu Arsenault serves as Associate Professor in the Department of History within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Université de Montréal. His academic work centers on Indigenous history, colonial politics, and medical history in North America, with particular focus on Quebec and Canadian contexts from the 18th to 20th centuries.

His research expertise spans Indigenous political history, colonial medicine, epistolary exchanges, and historiography. Arsenault examines how Indigenous communities navigated colonial structures through petitions, territorial negotiations, and healthcare systems. His work frequently analyzes Crown-Indigenous relations, municipal colonialism, and the role of religious institutions in colonial expansion.

Recent publications reveal consistent focus on Indigenous petitioning as political strategy, colonial medical practices affecting Indigenous bodies, and territorial conflicts in Quebec regions like Gaspésie and Saguenay. His scholarship shows increasing engagement with decolonial frameworks and collaborative research methods involving Indigenous communities.

Arsenault actively supervises graduate students on topics including Indigenous leadership reshaping through extracurricular activities, ecumenical coalitions, scientific colonialism in Northern Quebec, and Ojibwe territoriality. His research is supported by significant grants from CRSH and FRQSC for projects examining Indigenous territoriality, colonial dispossession, and healthcare governance.