Description
Book SynopsisExamines contact stories from indigenous and newcomer populations from New Zealand and throughout North America. This book argues that we are in the contact zone, struggling to understand the meaning of contact between indigenous and settler populations. It is suitable for scholars and students in Canadian history and First Nations studies.
Trade ReviewThe essays provide a fascinating surf of “first contacts” from New Zealand, England, southern Africa, and the Pacific Northwest, from the eighteenth century to today […]. A plentiful range of new approaches to the genre of the contact narrative distinguishes this impressively interdisciplinary collection, with contributions from historians, anthropologists, linguists, and literary critics. -- Sophie McCall * Canadian Literature, No.197 *
Myth & Memory injects an interesting and crucial “new” narrative into the historical record. -- Kelly Chaves * The Northern Mariner, Vol.XIX, No.1 *
This convincing and solid collection encourages assessment and reassessment of contact narratives. … Ten scholars from various fields, including history, anthropology, linguistics, and literature, engage in this informative work. …Edited by University of Victoria historian John Sutton Lutz, the chapters in
Myth and Memory integrate a number of global indigenous perspectives. Lutz’s extensive insight regarding native and newcomer relations provides a solid basis for editorial expertise of this compendium. -- Corinne George, Simon Fraser University * H-Canada *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction. Myth Understandings: First Contact, Over and Over Again / John Lutz
1. Close Encounters of the First Kind / J. Edward (Ted) Chamberlin
2. First Contact as a Spiritual Performance: Encounters on the North American West Coast / John Lutz
3. Reflections on Indigenous History and Memory: Reconstructing and Reconsidering Contact / Keith Carlson
4. Poking Fun? Humour and Power in Kaska Contact Narratives / Patrick Moore
5. Herbert Spencer, Paul Kane, and the Making of “The Chinook” / I.S. MacLaren
6. Performing Paradox: Narrativity and the Lost Colony of Roanoke / Michael Harkin
7. Stories at the Margins: Toward a More Inclusive Historiography / Wendy Wickwire
8. When the White Kawau Flies / Judith Binney
9. The Interpreter as Contact Point: Avoiding Collisions in Tlingit America / Nora and Richard Dauenhauer
Notes
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Contributors
