Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the World

A worldly perspective on the history, culture, and identity of the Eastern Townships.

Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the World reveals a region with its own gravity, sense of being, and worldly connections, marked not by its insularity but by its long history as a central meeting ground. Contributors explore Indigenous land use, regional mobility, linguistic diversity, economic production, and culture in myriad forms.

The Eastern Townships of Quebec are celebrated in popular discourse as a charming and remote nature playground for busy Montrealers, an appendage to stately Quebec City, and a northern abutment to the Northeast Kingdom of the United States. A closer look reveals a region with its own gravity, sense of being, and worldly connections.

Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the World examines how the Eastern Townships are linked directly to larger prevailing international forces and identities. Here, the Eastern Townships take centre stage as the reader encounters the vibrancy of a place marked not by its insularity but by its long history: a central meeting ground shaped by its many engagements with the world. The book provides new perspectives on compelling and significant topics in Townships history and culture, including Indigenous land use, the mobility of peoples to and from the region, linguistic diversity, economic production, education, sport, religion, and culture in myriad forms. These studies recast the Eastern Townships as a centre, a borderland, a lieu de passage between nations, communities, and peoples.

Featuring original and compelling insights, Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the World confirms that this beautiful region was and is a global place, one intimately connected to the world.