Creative Subversions: Whiteness, Indigeneity, and the National Imaginary - Hardcover

Francis, Margot

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 077482025X ISBN 13: 9780774820257

Publisher: UBC Press, 2011

Synopsis

In this richly illustrated book, Margot Francis explores how whiteness and Indigeneity are articulated through four icons of Canadian identity -- the beaver, the railway, the wilderness of Banff National Park, and “Indianness” -- and the contradictory and contested meanings they evoke. These seemingly benign, even kitschy, images, she argues, are haunted by ideas about race, masculinity, and sexuality that circulated during the formative years of Anglo-Canadian nationhood. Juxtaposing these nostalgic images with the work of contemporary Canadian artists, she investigates how everyday objects can be re-imagined to challenge ideas about history, memory, and national identity.

About this title

Product Description:

Creative Subversions In this richly illustrated book, Margot Francis shows how national symbols such as the beaver, the railway, the wilderness of Banff National Park, and ideas about "Indianness" evoke nostalgic versions of a past that cannot be expelled or assimilated. As Canadians consume versions of a past that does not nourish, the living themselves become ghostly. Juxtaposing historical images with material by c... Full description

Review:

This book is both timely and of broad appeal. Its exploration of artistic forms that speak back to and re-flesh cultures rendered into ghosts makes a significant addition to the debate on Canadian national memory and identity. Author: Beverley Haun, author of Inventing ‘Easter Island’

About this edition

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 077482025X
• ISBN 13: 9780774820257
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 252