Landscapes and social transformations on the Northwest coast : colonial encounters in the Fraser Valley
Record details
- ISBN: 9780816527878 (hard cover)
- ISBN: 0816527873 (hard cover)
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Physical Description:
print
xii, 249 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm. - Publisher: Tucson : University of Arizona Press, c2010.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-235) and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Setting the scene -- Constructing an Aboriginal landscape -- Beyond the water's edge -- Between stories and the landscape -- Ambiguity and geographic truths -- Toward the colonization of opinion -- The paradox of progress -- Ties that bind, lines that divide -- A view from the ground. |
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Camosun College Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
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Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Circulation Modifier | Holdable? | Status | Due Date | Courses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lansdowne Library | FC 3845 F73 O45 2010 (Text) | 26040002995021 | Main Collection | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Book News
Oliver (archaeology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland) grew up in British Columbia and learned the history of the region from the point of view of the European colonists. In this study, he revisits and revises the simplistic lessons of his childhood. He looks at the Fraser Valley from 1792-1918 in terms of the landscape, how it formed and was changed by human intervention. This is a micro-study, so rather than making sweeping generalizations, Oliver follows individuals and small groups as they interact with each other and the environment. He employs the relatively new field of social geography to add the land itself into the equation. This allows for a less monolithic interpretation of the past. As he says, history can be "messy"; not all occurrences fit into neat models. But this method makes for a more accurate and more interesting view of the past. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) - Chicago Distribution CenterThe Fraser Valley in British Columbia has been viewed historically as a typical setting of Indigenous-white interaction. Jeff Oliver now reexamines the social history of this region from pre-contact to the violent upheavals of nineteenth and early twentieth century colonialism to argue that the dominant discourses of progress and colonialism often mask the real social and physical process of change that occurred here—change that can be more meaningfully tied to transformations in the land.
The Fraser Valley has long been a scene of natural resource appropriation—furs and fish, timber and agriculture—with settlement patterns and land claims centering on the use of these materials. Oliver demonstrates how social change and cultural understanding are tied to the way that people use and remake the landscape. Drawing on ethnographic texts, archaeological evidence, cartography, and historical writing, he has created a deep history of the valley that enables us to view how human entanglements with landscape were creative of a variety of contentious issues. By capturing the multiple dynamics that were operating in the past, Oliver shows us not only how landscape transformations were implicated in constructing different perceptions of place but also how such changes influenced peoples’ understanding of history and identity.
This groundbreaking work examines engagement between people and the environment across a variety of themes, from aboriginal appropriation of nature to colonists’ reworking of physical and conceptual geographies, demonstrating the consequences of these interactions as they permeated various social and cultural spheres. It offers a new lens for viewing a region as it provides fresh insight into such topics as landscape change, perceptions of place, and Indigenous-white relations.