My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell

My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell
Author :
Publisher : Athabasca University Press
Total Pages : 194
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781771991759
ISBN-13 : 1771991755
Rating : 4/5 (59 Downloads)

Synopsis My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell by : Arthur Bear Chief

My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell is a simple and outspoken account of the sexual and psychological abuse that Arthur Bear Chief suffered during his time at Old Sun Residential school in Gleichen on the Siksika Nation. In a series of chronological vignettes, Bear Chief depicts the punishment, cruelty, abuse, and injustice that he endured at Old Sun and then later relived in the traumatic process of retelling his story at an examination for discovery in connection with a lawsuit brought against the federal government. He returned to Gleichen late in life—to the home left to him by his mother—and it was there that he began to reconnect with Blackfoot language and culture and to write his story. Although the terrific adversity Bear Chief faced in his childhood made an indelible mark on his life, his unyielding spirit is evident throughout his story.

Rocks in the Water, Rocks in the Sun

Rocks in the Water, Rocks in the Sun
Author :
Publisher : Athabasca University Press
Total Pages : 390
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781771990110
ISBN-13 : 1771990112
Rating : 4/5 (10 Downloads)

Synopsis Rocks in the Water, Rocks in the Sun by : Vilmond Joegodson Déralciné

When Joegodson Déralciné was still a small child, his parents left rural Haiti to resettle in the rapidly growing zones of Port-au-Prince. As his family entered the city in 1986, Duvalier and his dictatorship exited. Haitians, once terrorized under Duvalier’s reign, were liberated and emboldened to believe that they could take control of their lives. But how? Joining hundreds of thousands of other peasants trying to adjust to urban life, Joegodson and his family sought work and a means of survival. But all they found was low-waged assembly plant jobs of the sort to which the repressive Duvalier regime had opened Haiti’s doors—the combination of flexible capital and cheap labour too attractive to multinational manufacturers to be overlooked. With the death of his mother, Joegodson was placed in his uncle’s care, and so began a childhood of starvation, endless labour, and abuse. In honest, reflective prose, Joegodson—now a father himself— allows us to walk in the ditches of Cité Soleil, to hide from the macoutes under the bed, to feel the ache of an empty stomach. But, most importantly, he provides an account of life in Haiti from a perspective that is rarely heard. Free of sentimentality and hackneyed clichés, his narrative explores the spirituality of Vodou, Catholicism, and Protestantism, describes the harrowing day of the 2010 earthquake and its aftermath, and illustrates the inner workings of MINUSTAH. Written with Canadian historian Paul Jackson—Joegodson telling his story in Creole, Jackson translating, the two of them then reviewing and reworking—the memoir is a true collaboration, the struggle of two people from different lands and vastly different circumstances to arrive at a place of mutual understanding. In the process, they have given us an unforgettable account of a country determined to survive, and on its own terms.

The Wolves at My Shadow

The Wolves at My Shadow
Author :
Publisher : Athabasca University Press
Total Pages : 324
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781771990615
ISBN-13 : 1771990619
Rating : 4/5 (15 Downloads)

Synopsis The Wolves at My Shadow by : Ingelore Rothschild

Ingelore Rothschild was twelve years old when she was whisked out of her home in 1936. It was her first step on a cross-continent journey to Japan, where she and her parents sought refuge from rising anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany. A decade later, as she sails away from what has become her home in Kobe, Japan, Ingelore records her memories of life in Berlin, the long train journey through Russia, and her time in Japan during World War II. Each leg of the journey presents its own nightmare: passports are stolen, identities are uncovered, a mudslide tears through the Rothschild’s home, and the atomic bombs are dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Ingelore’s bright, observant nature and remarkable capacity for befriending those along her way fills her narrative with unique details about the people she meets and the places she travels to. The story of Ingelore and her prominent German Jewish family’s escape is an invaluable account that contributes to Holocaust witness and memoir literature. Although she was forever marked by her traumatic past, Ingelore’s survival story is a painful reminder that only European Jews with significant financial means were able to carefully orchestrate an escape from Nazi Germany.

The Sun Does Shine

The Sun Does Shine
Author :
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Total Pages : 270
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781250124715
ISBN-13 : 1250124719
Rating : 4/5 (15 Downloads)

Synopsis The Sun Does Shine by : Anthony Ray Hinton

"A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit"--

My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell

My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages :
Release :
ISBN-10 : 177199178X
ISBN-13 : 9781771991780
Rating : 4/5 (8X Downloads)

Synopsis My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell by : Arthur Bear Chief

"Arthur Bear Chief suffered both sexual and psychological abuse during his time at Old Sun Residential school in Gleichen on the Siksika Nation. My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell is a of chronological vignettes that depict the punishment, cruelty, and injustice that Arthur endured at Old Sun and then later relived in the traumatic process of retelling his story in connection with a complicated claims procedure. Late in life, after working for both the provincial and federal government, Arthur returned home to Gleichen. It was there that he began to reconnect with Blackfoot language and culture and to write his story."--Publisher's description.

A Little Life

A Little Life
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 833
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780804172707
ISBN-13 : 0804172706
Rating : 4/5 (07 Downloads)

Synopsis A Little Life by : Hanya Yanagihara

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.

Amma’s Daughters

Amma’s Daughters
Author :
Publisher : Athabasca University Press
Total Pages : 326
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781771991957
ISBN-13 : 177199195X
Rating : 4/5 (57 Downloads)

Synopsis Amma’s Daughters by : Meenal Shrivastava

As a precocious young girl, Surekha knew very little about the details of her mother Amma’s unusual past and that of Babu, her mysterious and sometimes absent father. The tense, uncertain family life created by her parents’ distant and fractious marriage and their separate ambitions informs her every action and emotion. Then one evening, in a moment of uncharacteristic transparency and vulnerability, Amma tells Surekha and her older sister Didi of the family tragedy that changed the course of her life. Finally, the daughters begin to understand the source of their mother’s deep commitment to the Indian nationalist movement and her seemingly unending willingness to sacrifice in the name of that pursuit. In this re-memory based on the published and unpublished work of Amma and Surekha, Meenal Shrivastava, Surekha’s daughter, uncovers the history of the female foot soldiers of Gandhi’s national movement in the early twentieth century. As Meenal weaves these written accounts together with archival research and family history, she gives voice and honour to the hundreds of thousands of largely forgotten or unacknowledged women who, threatened with imprisonment for treason and sedition, relentlessly and selflessly gave toward the revolution.

Old Stories, New Ways

Old Stories, New Ways
Author :
Publisher : Brush Education
Total Pages : 142
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781550598629
ISBN-13 : 1550598627
Rating : 4/5 (29 Downloads)

Synopsis Old Stories, New Ways by : Vivian Manasc

Vivian Manasc, one of the founders of Manasc Isaac Architects, has pioneered sustainable architecture in Canada. Her work in partnership with Indigenous communities has been her greatest inspiration, and it has transformed the very nature of her practice. Through the profound lessons of the seven Grandfather Teachings, Vivian came to understand that the process of planning and designing a building should be a circle, with the beginning and end of the story linked together. The stories Vivian tells in Old Stories, New Ways are also framed by these teachings of Courage, Love, Wisdom, Respect, Truth, Humility and Honesty, with each teaching illuminating an aspect of how working with Dene, Cree, Saulteaux, Métis, Inuit and Inuvialuit communities has influenced her design practice.

Seen but Not Seen

Seen but Not Seen
Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Total Pages : 486
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781442622128
ISBN-13 : 1442622121
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Seen but Not Seen by : Donald B. Smith

Throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century, the majority of Canadians argued that European "civilization" must replace Indigenous culture. The ultimate objective was assimilation into the dominant society. Seen but Not Seen explores the history of Indigenous marginalization and why non-Indigenous Canadians failed to recognize Indigenous societies and cultures as worthy of respect. Approaching the issue biographically, Donald B. Smith presents the commentaries of sixteen influential Canadians – including John A. Macdonald, George Grant, and Emily Carr – who spoke extensively on Indigenous subjects. Supported by documentary records spanning over nearly two centuries, Seen but Not Seen covers fresh ground in the history of settler-Indigenous relations.

Sleeping Giant Awakens

Sleeping Giant Awakens
Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Total Pages : 253
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781487522698
ISBN-13 : 148752269X
Rating : 4/5 (98 Downloads)

Synopsis Sleeping Giant Awakens by : David B. MacDonald

Confronting the truths of Canada's Indian residential school system has been likened to waking a sleeping giant. In The Sleeping Giant Awakens, David B. MacDonald uses genocide as an analytical tool to better understand Canada's past and present relationships between settlers and Indigenous peoples. Starting with a discussion of how genocide is defined in domestic and international law, the book applies the concept to the forced transfer of Indigenous children to residential schools and the "Sixties Scoop," in which Indigenous children were taken from their communities and placed in foster homes or adopted. Based on archival research, extensive interviews with residential school Survivors, and officials at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, among others, The Sleeping Giant Awakens offers a unique and timely perspective on the prospects for conciliation after genocide, exploring the difficulties in moving forward in a context where many settlers know little of the residential schools and ongoing legacies of colonization and need to have a better conception of Indigenous rights. It provides a detailed analysis of how the TRC approached genocide in its deliberations and in its Final Report. Crucially, MacDonald engages critics who argue that the term genocide impedes understanding of the IRS system and imperils prospects for conciliation. By contrast, this book sees genocide recognition as an important basis for meaningful discussions of how to engage Indigenous-settler relations in respectful and proactive ways.