The Politics of the Canoe

Popularly thought of as a recreational vehicle and one of the key ingredients of an ideal wilderness getaway, the canoe is also a political vessel. A potent symbol and practice of Indigenous cultures and traditions, the canoe has also been adopted to assert conservation ideals, feminist empowerment, citizenship practices, and multicultural goals. Documenting many of these various uses, this book asserts that the canoe is not merely a matter of leisure and pleasure; it is folded into many facets of our political life. Taking a critical stance on the canoe, The Politics of the Canoe expands and enlarges the stories that we tell about the canoe's relationship to, for example, colonialism, nationalism, environmentalism, and resource politics. To think about the canoe as a political vessel is to recognize how intertwined canoes are in the public life, governance, authority, social conditions, and ideologies of particular cultures, nations, and states. Almost everywhere we turn, and any way we look at it, the canoe both affects and is affected by complex political and cultural histories. Across Canada and the U.S., canoeing cultures have been born of activism and resistance as much as of adherence to the mythologies of wilderness and nation building. The essays in this volume show that canoes can enhance how we engage with and interpret not only our physical environments, but also our histories and present-day societies.

Author: Bruce Erickson
Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
Published: 03/26/2021
Pages: 270
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.90h x 7.70w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9780887559099
ISBN10: 0887559093
BISAC Categories:
- Sports & Recreation | Water Sports | Canoeing
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | Native American Studies
- History | Americas (North Central South West Indies)