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Temagami's Tangled Wild

Race, Gender, and the Making of Canadian Nature

Jocelyn Thorpe author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of British Columbia Press

Published:1st Jul '12

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Temagami's Tangled Wild cover

A vivid and engaging history that shows how the much-beloved concept of Canadian wilderness is more troubling than it seems.

This book shows that wilderness is created rather than discovered, and describes how the creation of wilderness has led to the marginalization of Aboriginal peoples from their territories.

Temagami’s Tangled Wild traces the processes and power relationships through which the Temagami area of northeastern Ontario has become emblematic of Canadian wilderness. In this sophisticated analysis, Jocelyn Thorpe uncovers how struggles over meaning, racialized and gendered identities, and land have made Temagami a site of wild Canadian nature. Despite the fact that the Teme-Augama Anishnabai have for many generations understood the region as their homeland rather than as a wilderness, the forestry and tourism industries, as well as Canadian law, have refused to acknowledge this claim. Instead, the concept of wilderness has been employed to aid in Aboriginal dispossession and to create a home for non-Aboriginal Canadians on Native land.

An eloquent critique and engaging history, Temagami’s Tangled Wild challenges readers to acknowledge how colonial relations are embedded in our notions of wilderness, and to reconsider our understanding of the wilderness ideal.

The book’s short length and clear writing, which make it ideal for teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels, belie not only this ambitious objective but also Thorpe’s carefully theorizing and rich historical detail. -- Rosemary-Claire Collard * The Goose, Issue 11, 2012 *

ISBN: 9780774822015

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 340g

220 pages