Cape Breton University Press
Now iconic to Canadian, if not global culture, Cape Breton Island underwent a metamorphosis of sorts during the 1970s and 1980s. Long marginalized by geography, economics and predominant mainland political culture, a countercultural sea change brought the island's deeply rooted creative side-music, drama, literature and humour-to centre stage. One such stage was Old Trout Funnies, a homegrown satirical series of comic books created by artist Paul MacKinnon. MacKinnon's Cape Breton comic book heroes, the Cape Breton Liberation Army, led the revolution, lampooning local and provincial politics, labour unions, environmental activism, government infrastructure projects and back-to-the-landers. Through the farcical exploits of the CBLA, Old Trout Funnies parodied and played with the caricature of Cape Bretoners as shiftless, happy-go-lucky rogues whose motivation emanated from the taverns. In The Comic Origins of the Cape Breton Liberation Army, folklorist Ian Brodie explores the themes and the legacy of Old Trout Funnies, providing the cultural and historical context for a project that was intensely esoteric and in-the-moment. Included are the complete runs of the comics, the calendars and some rarely seen ancillary images of the CBLA, and of some unfinished and unpublished works.
Swedish-born traditional dancer and researcher Mats Melin has worked and performed extensively in the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, in their schools and communities promoting Scottish traditional dance. He has also taught and performed in Sweden, Canada, USA, Russia and New Zealand. Mats has a vast knowledge of all aspects of the Scottish traditional dance scene, but specializes in Cape Breton step dancing. One With the Music is informed, in part, by Melin's PhD research on transmission practices-how the tradition and steps of generations of dancers in Cape Breton get passed on to subsequent generations. His research gives us insight not only into the processes of transmission, but also into the complex ways dance and music in Cape Breton are deeply ingrained in the island's culture. In this book, the home, classroom and square-dance contexts-and, to some extent, concerts-are examined and analyzed following years of interviews and participation.
Celtic music scholar and musician Liz Doherty is no stranger to Cape Breton music - in fact, she has made a study of it. Doherty's exposure to, and research of, the island's music traditions was the germination for this compendium on the Cape Breton fiddle: its history, its people, the tunes, the recordings. The fiddle music of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, has its own sound, artistic standards, performance practices and etiquette. The Cape Breton fiddler of the 21st century is performing a music that was transplanted from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Adapted and evolved as it has passed down through several generations, each of its exponents carrying an inherited responsibility to maintain the music's integrity while also making it relevant for contemporary audiences. The Cape Breton Fiddle Companion widens the field of view for future adherents and scholars of Cape Breton music, raises as many questions as it answers, and thus contributes to the ongoing conversation. Above all, it is a tribute to those who have carried and developed this wonderful music and shared it with so many of us around the world.
From Vancouver to Cape Breton, Scottish Gaelic-speaking communities could be found all over Canada from the late-18th to the mid-20th century. This is the first anthology of prose and poetry - mostly literary, some historical in tone - to give voice to the experience of Gaelic Canadians. It covers a wide range of territory and time, allowing Gaels to express their own opinions about a broad set of themes: migration, politics, religion, family life, identity, social organizations and more.
Thomas Pichon seems forever at a crossroads, often choosing the path of least resistance, or the most tempting. In this, the third Thomas Pichon novel, his life remains more complicated than he wishes. He encounters highwaymen on a country road, succumbs to a tempting tryst in the spa town of Bath, squanders a new love in London and longs for the higher social station he once enjoyed. Returning to Paris, Thomas's work life initially stalls, but a new lover offers help. He is given the best position he has ever had, one that requires him to go overseas. The crossing is a voyage neither he nor anyone aboard will soon forget.
Bright and promising as a student, George Cameron was sent to live with his sister in Boston while he attended a prestigious Latin school and later the Boston School of Law. It was what his mother wanted for him and his brother, Charley. It was what any well-bred family would want for an intelligent son destined for greater things than his humble New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, upbringing. Always at odds with the demands of his mother, George struggled to establish his own identity.
For more than two centuries, adventurers, thrill seekers and treasure hunters have tried to unlock the secret of Oak Island, investing millions of dollars, and costing at least six lives. And the obsession continues: a television series in the winter of 2014 and seasonal walking tours of the area that include locations highlighted by the series. Theories and intrigue abound - a clandestine treasure trove? The resting place of some holy relic? A cache of priceless documents? The promise of treasure is a powerful compulsion - the Oak Island story is embroiled with politics and treachery from its humble beginnings - and many have risked and lost entire fortunes, and in some cases their very lives, chasing these theories. The bald truth is that nobody actually knew what was there, and every imaginable theory, from the fantastic to the ridiculous was concocted to explain that unknown. Joy Steele's thorough investigation reveals a remarkable and credible truth vastly different than legend would have it.
First published in 1986, now revised and with new chapters added, Brian Tennyson's Impressions of Cape Breton gathers together descriptive impressions of Cape Breton Island, dating from 1634 to 1941, as selected by historian Brian Douglas Tennyson. Some of the impressions are overwhelmingly positive - "Sydney harbour is justly considered one of the finest ports in America" - some are harsh - "nothing but the most absolute necessity can possibly induce me to pass another year here" - and some downright amusing - "In no place of similar size in British America, will you find gentlemen possessed of more general information, or ladies of better tone and manners."
Atlantic Canada is renowned for its lengthy coastlines, rural expanses, a reputedly slower pace and its welcoming, warm and friendly people. But for immigrants especially, how much of this is rhetoric, and how much is reality? Atlantic Canada is renowned for its lengthy coastlines, rural expanses, a reputedly slower pace and its welcoming, warm and friendly people. But for immigrants especially, how much of this is rhetoric, and how much is reality? The Warmth of the Welcome underscores that a welcoming environment does not simply consist of ordinary people's reception of, and encounters with, newcomers and immigrants in everyday life. Beyond this human "warmth of the welcome" mentioned in official literature, and by the general public, there are also several institutional and structural layers that constitute a welcoming environment. Favourable political economic conditions, receptive community relations including inter-ethnic group relations, the existence of local, national and transnational family networks, and the presence of policies and practices not only concern immigration, settlement and integration, but such issues as adequate, accessible and affordable housing and childcare. These layers of welcome for immigrants and newcomers ultimately correspond to interrelated economic, social, political and emotional dimensions and processes of citizenship. Is Atlantic Canada truly welcoming? What makes it a home away from home for newcomers in the region?
Though puirt-a-beul are popular with both Gaelic-speaking and non-Gaelic speaking audiences, this book offers the first comprehensive study of the genre. Heather Sparling considers how puirt-a-beul compare to other forms of global mouth music and examines its origins, its musical and lyrical characteristics, and its functions. Sparling brings together years of research, including an array of historical references to puirt-a-beul, interviews with Gaelic singers in both Scotland and Nova Scotia, observations of puirt-a-beul performances on both sides of the Atlantic as well as on recordings, and analysis of melodies and lyrics. Her Nova Scotia viewpoint allows her to consider puirt-a-beul in both its Scottish and diaspora contexts, a perspective that is too often absent in studies of Gaelic song.
'S e sgrìobhadair, bàrd, seinneadair, fear-ciùil agus fear-teagaisg a th'ann an Lodaidh MacFhionghain a tha 'g obair ann a' leasachadh na Gàidhlig an Albainn Nuaidh. Lewis MacKinnon is a writer, poet, singer, musician and teacher who works in Gaelic development in Nova Scotia. Air a bhreith ann an Baile Inbhirnis, Ceap Breatainn is air a thogail ann a' Siorramachd Antaiginis air tìr mór na h-Albann Nuaidhe. Tha Lodaidh a' fuireach le a theaghlach ann a' Sackville Mheadhanach, teann air Baile Haileafaics, Alba Nuadh. Born in Inverness, Cape Breton and raised in Antigonish County on the Nova Scotia mainland, Lewis lives with his family in Middle Sackville, close to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Born in Inverness, Cape Breton and raised in Antigonish County on the Nova Scotia mainland, Lewis lives with his family in Middle Sackville, close to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Frank Macdonald's reputation for colourful characters, subtle satire and social conscience is omnipresent in the hilarious adventures of Cape Breton pals Tinker and Blue in late-'60s San Francisco. At age 19 and 20, respectively, Tinker Dempsey and his oldest friend Blue figured it was time they followed generations of Cape Bretoners and crossed the Canso Causeway, if for no other reason than to find a few stories they could call their own. It was Blue's idea to drive their fourth-hand 1957 push-button Plymouth out to San Francisco to check out the famed Haight-Ashbury district. What they found was more than they - and San Francisco - bargained for. Hitchhiking hippies, homespun humour, wit and wisdom, troubles in love and trouble with the law converge to make Tinker and Blue a funny and clever flashback that only Frank Macdonald could imagine.
A unique and satisfying account of the colourful community of Washabuck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and its people by way of the stories they told and the stories told about them. Most of the people, places and events that Vince MacLean brings to life in these pages are not there anymore - the Washabuck on these pages is the Washabuck that was. MacLean's lifetime of listening to oral traditions and of his research of every written source he could find, combines for a compelling examination of both the place and its time. Washabuck the place is much more than geographical coordinates on a map; its time spans a few centuries. Mr. MacLean's approach to the history of his community is unique and satisfying; we learn of its people by way of the stories they told and the stories told about them - a history rich in character without sacrificing facts and figures. These Were My People is Vince MacLean's celebration of his community, his people.
Governance and Social Leadership examines the inadequacies of current theories on leadership in order to help us better understand the process of leadership and to suggest mechanisms for change. The proliferation of examples of poor political, religious, corporate and even grass roots leadership is troubling, to say the least. Perhaps more troubling is the resulting cynicism-and apathy-on the part of populations who sorely desire, and deserve, better leadership and governance. There are many and varied sources of theories and practical advice on leadership but, as Robert A. Campbell suggests, too many simply play into our need for quick fixes and novelty and do not reflect what is actually going on in the world. In Governance and Social Leadership, Campbell examines the dynamic nature of organizations and humans systems and our capacity, or incapacity, to act.
McCurdy and the Silver Dart recounts the thrilling story of J. A. McCurdy, Canada's aviation pioneer. Born in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Douglas McCurdy had a unique childhood during which he assisted world-famous scientist and inventor, Alexander Graham Bell in fascinating and frequently dangerous experiments conducted with kites and airplanes. He was the first person to fly an airplane in the British Empire. Later he became a barnstormer and daredevil pilot, taking part in some of the earliest air races. He was the first person to fly out of sight of land and the first pilot to receive a wireless message while airborne.
Like the streets of his 18th-century Paris home, Thomas Pichon's life is full of twists and turns. Despite winning his wife's forgiveness for an extramarital affair, Thomas and his lover, Hélène, are caught a second time, and decide that it's time for new beginnings - in London. As a writer, Thomas tries to make literary sense of the chaos of the life and language of a city teeming with excitement and danger. Hélène finds her own way out of the maze.
Scottish Highlanders, and their descendants all over the world, are no better and no worse than any other people where "sinful" behaviour is concerned. Standards of morality and social conventions changed dramatically during the 19th century - and most of the people engaged in recording and commenting upon Highland life and tradition were puritanical ministers and priests who left out the racy bits. So, while there are many useful books that provide a wide range of Scottish Gaelic vocabulary to express many aspects of daily life - except, for the most part, the topics covered in this book.
The poetry of Clay Pots and Bones is Lindsay Marshall's way of telling stories, of speaking with others about what things that matter to him. His heritage. His people. His life as a Mi'kmaw. For the reader, Clay Pots and Bones is a colourful journey from early days, when the People of the Dawn understood, interacted with and roamed the land freely, to the turbulent present and the uncertain future where Marshall envisions a rebirth of the Mi'kmaq. The poetry challenges and enlightens. It will, most certainly, entertain.
Alexander Graham Bell, Baddeck's most illustrious resident, and one of the world's greatest inventors, is also famous for the greatness of his compassion. It's 1908, and ten-year-old Eddie MacDonald shares the friendly inventor's passion for solving problems and for taking long walks in the fields above Bras d'Or Lake. But whereas Bell is renowned by many for being the smartest man in the world, Eddie is just a local farm boy who struggles to learn to read and write. After a few chance encounters, the elderly Bell befriends the young boy, and takes an interest in his struggle - encouraging Eddie to celebrate his successes and never give up. When Bell's long ambition for manned flight culminates in the Silver Dart soaring over Bras d'Or Lake, Eddie is inspired to find solutions to his own challenges.
To get a sense of the significance of Carlo Spinazzola's work, it is important to see it in the context of the full breadth of the artistic undertakings he applied himself to. To see him just as a poet, or as a musician, or as a painter, is to miss the spirit that ran through all his work. He was all of these things and none - his artistic output flowed naturally, taking a number of forms, always in the same spirit. His life and his work spoke the same honest message, and this honesty gave all of his endeavours a depth, commitment and truthfulness that is unmistakable. Carlo and his blues lived together, and together they created for us a powerful legacy of words, music, art and memory. Whether his inner torments instigated his creativity or were the necessary payment exacted for his gifts is a moot point, for in the end Carlo succumbed to his demons. In 2003 the blues carried him away at the age of thirty-three. By turns funny, crude and, above all, moving, The Blue Room is the work of a true artist. Gathered from notebooks written throughout Spinazzola's lifetime the poems here are the expression of a young artist of our generation.
Tina is short, but she packs a wallop. And she knows every move a boxer needs to get to the top. It's 1979, and the glory days of the sport are over. With the family gym about to fold, and her father unwilling to listen to a word she says, Tina explodes and takes off, leaving Sydney's Whitney Pier behind her for good. But it isn't her temper that turns things around, it's a road trip with her sister, and a Mi'kmaw light-heavyweight they meet along the way. Tina's convinced he'll go the distance - with her as Manager.
The Highland Clearances generally refers to the eviction of indigenous Gaelic-speaking people of the Scottish Highlands and Islands-roughly between 1790 and 1855-to make way for more profitable cattle and sheep farms and, later, sporting estates. The blunt result of these evictions was that of a culture fundamentally altered if not destroyed. Many Highlanders emigrated to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. A number of histories, novels, poems, plays, memoirs and songs have been written about the Clearances. In recent years some scholars have minimized the impact, referring to the historical accounts as being hyperbolic, an exaggeration fuelled by anger as much as by wishful nostalgia. Others maintain that the Clearances were an inevitable part of economic history and a necessary, if painful, consequence of progress. It is a story about a particular subset of people in a particular area of a small northern nation, but it is also the larger story of the not-always-noble state of the human condition-the strong overwhelm the weak with their resources, their power and their ambition. It is, in other words, a fundamentally human story and its casualty was people-not just cold statistics on a sheet of paper, but flesh-and-blood human beings. The Clearances-an iconic image and a concept-is of deeply rooted and profound symbolic importance for Scots in the Highlands and in the global Scots diaspora. Bearing the People Away is the only one-volume companion to one of the most defining moments in Scottish, and indeed, British history. Part reference guide, part handbook, part travel guide and part resource, Bearing the People Away uses an encyclopedia format geared toward the general reader. The entries vary in length from brief sentences to several pages. They include major Clearances sites, major and minor figures associated with the Clearances, Clearances-related sites outwith Scotland (Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, for example), places and historical events with Clearances and or Highland connections, and books, recordings and relevant museums and organizations identified with the Highland Clearances.
Rev. Duncan B. Blair (1815-1893) was an excellent linguist, a good poet and a devout man. "As an accurate writer of Gaelic he had no superior," espoused A. Maclean Sinclair. Blair composed sacred and secular poems, laments and songs and prose, many of which were published in Mac-Talla, the famous Gaelic newspaper published in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Among his contributions to Mac-Talla were a series of essays on the Highland Clearances. Blair's poems have been studied and presented elsewhere over the years, but less is known about his prose. Now, transcribed in the original Gaelic with English translations, Fògradh, Fàisneachd, Filidheachd / Parting, Prophecy, Poetry includes Blair's articles about the Clearances, an account of a 16th-century seer who some say foretold of the Clearances, essays about Blair's travels around the Maritimes and Ontario and a number of his poems, all as published in Mac-Talla.
Celtic-speaking peoples of Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Scottish Highlands and Wales played a vital role in the history of Europe and the Americas. Immigrant Celtic communities enjoyed many significant accomplishments explored in this volume.
Descended from one of the three most prominent families in Acadia, Jeanne Dugas (1731-1817) and her family lived for more than thirty years under the threat of capture and deportation by the British militia and attacks by pirates and privateers.
This book contributes to the growing literature on the social economy from the particular perspectives of Atlantic Canadians who have been part of the Social Economy and Sustainability Research Network. It illustrates the importance of the sector to the region's social, economic and public life while exploring its potential for positive change. Prefiguring an economy based on principles of human values and principles of solidarity, the social economy offers a space for people to exercise democracy in realms thought to be "economic" and thus exempt from such priorities. The social economy has the aim of development in a double sense-development of the individual and local or community development.
Hailed as the pride of Nova Scotia, the giant Anna Swan (1846-1888) continues to be acclaimed as a woman who, despite her unusual and challenging physical attributes, rose above adversity to lead a life of love, happiness and great accomplishments.
A coming of age story about Roddie Gillies and his guardian and grandfather Calum, who is one of the last remaining Gaelic speakers in the once-proud mining town of Shean. A quiet and stoic man, Calum Gillies and his aging friends illuminate for us the changing world around them: the loss of the coal mines, the labour strife and lean years endured, the religious parochialism that divides families and communities and, most important, a disappearing language. The setting is Cape Breton; the themes of cultural and rural change and decline are universal.
Robert Campbell's Reading the Qur'an in English is an introductory guide to help readers experience the Qur'an on its own terms. Following his guidance, in conjunction with reading an English language version of the Qur'an, can reveal a great deal about the nature of Islam and about how the Qur'an compares with other Abrahamic scriptures. People who are unwilling or unable to delve into the text of the Qur'an on their own will always be at risk of having their opinions shaped by others. In this new book, Dr. Campbell expands the journey through his analysis of the thematic structure of the fourth surah (The Women), a large and complex surah containing some of the most controversial verses and ideas in the Qur'an. The key issues addressed are women (on marriage, lewdness, wife beating and hijab), war (on killing, battle, jihad and terrorism) and hypocrites (on believers, the People of the Book, idolatry, intoxication and the crucifixion of Jesus). Given that Islam traces its prophetic heritage from Noah through to Abraham, Moses, Jesus and finally Muhammad, much of the content of the Qur'an will be familiar to those with even a passing exposure to the scriptures of the Jews and Christians.
Like many smallish and inelegant towns that dot the coastlines and crossroads of this country, Shean's postwar, post-industrial economy is in desperate disrepair, and the lengths that some civic leaders will go to in order to do "what's best" for a town like Shean sometimes requires a leap of faith that has unintended consequences. When a global corporation plans a daring scheme to exploit the remaining coal from an improbable source - and thus to secure Shean's economic future - politicians try to marginalize the few voices of dissent. Some voices, however, are not easily silenced.
Writer, lover, spy: Life is nowhere near as good or as easy as Thomas Pichon imagined it would be. Set in early-18th-century France, Thomas: A Secret Life is the imagined life of Thomas Pichon. We first meet Thomas as a twelve-year old in the small town of Vire, Normandy. Precociously sensuous by nature, Thomas is inclined to poetry and religious/erotic imaginings. A series of adolescent adventures provide striking background to his character. Rejecting parental insistence that he become a priest, Thomas steals away to Paris in the middle of the night. There, nearly broke, Thomas works as a lowly office clerk, joins the ranks of aspiring French writers and makes extra money serving as a part-time spy for the police of Paris. But his careers advance too slowly for his liking, and he finds himself taking regular comfort and release in prostitutes' stalls. A rendezvous with a high-class courtesan brings a new possibility and Thomas plots a future in which he can have his cake and eat it too.
Set in a 1920s coal-mining town, Trapper Boy is the story of 13-year-old JW Donaldson, a good student with a bright future. As school ended for the year in 1926, JW was looking forward to summer. Sure, he would have chores - feeding the horse and milking the goat, tending the garden, that kind of thing - but he would also have lots of time for fishing, building his cabin and reading. Lots of reading. But there is something worrying his parents. His father works in the mine, and there is a lot of talk around town about the mines. JW doesn't know the details - Adults had a lot to worry about, and he was in no hurry to become one. Slowly, JW's parents reveal the truth: his father's hours at the mine have been reduced and they face difficult decisions to try to make ends meet. One such decision will have a previously unimagined impact on the young man's life.