Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Women's History - Tapa blanda

The traditional mythology of the West is dominated by male images: the fur trader, the Mountie, the missionary, the miner, the cowboy, the politician, the Chief. Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West claims to re-examine the West through women's eyes. It draws together contributions from researchers, scholars, and academic and community activists, and seeks to create dialogue across geographic, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries. Ranging from scholarly essays to poetry, these pieces offer the reader a sample of some of today's most innovative approaches to western Canadian women's history; several of the themes that run throughout the volume have only recently been critically addressed. By rewriting the West from the perspective of women, the contributors complicate traditional narratives of the region's past by contesting historical generalizations, thus transcending the myths and "frontier" legacies that emerged out of imperial and masculine priorities and perspectives. With Contributions by: Kristin Burnett Cristine Georgina Bye Sarah Carter Mary Leah De Zwart Lesley A. Erickson Cheryl Foggo Nadine I. Kozak Siri Louie Graham A. Macdonald Florence Melchior Patricia A. Roome Eliane Leslau Silverman Olive Stickney Aritha Van Herk Muriel Stanley Venne Cora J. Voyageur

Sarah Carter is the Henry Marshall Tory Chair Professor of History at the University of Alberta. She has written extensively in the areas of women's, aboriginal, and Western history. Aritha van Herk is an award-winning Canadian writer whose work has been acclaimed throughout North America and Europe. Her books include Judith, The Tent Peg, No Fixed Address, Places Far From Ellesmere, Restlessness, In Visible Ink, A Frozen Tongue and Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta. She first worked with George Webber on the photography book In This Place, published by Frontenac House. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and a professor who teaches Canadian literature and creative writing in the Department of English at the University of Calgary. Aritha lives in Calgary, Alberta. Lesley Erickson holds a doctorate in history from the University of Calgary. Her research interests include womenas and gender history, western Canadian history, and the history of crime and punishment. Patricia Roome is a member of the Humanities Department at Mount Royal University, where she teaches history and women's studies. Sarah Carter is the Henry Marshall Tory Chair Professor of History at the University of Alberta. She has written extensively in the areas of women's, aboriginal, and Western history. Cheryl Foggo is a journalist, screenwriter, poet, and playwright. She has a particular interest in the history of Black pioneers on the prairies and has written extensively on that subject in books, magazines, and anthologies. She lives in Calgary.