Negotiated Memory
Doukhobor Autobiographical Discourse
Published on 7. April 2004
Book
Hardback
172 pages
978-0-7748-1030-2 (ISBN)
Description
The Doukhobors, Russian-speaking immigrants who arrived in Canada beginning in 1899, are known primarily to the Canadian public through the sensationalist images of them as nude protestors, anarchists, and religious fanatics - representations largely propagated by government commissions and the Canadian media. In Negotiating Memory, Julie Rak examines the ways in which autobiographical strategies have been employed by the Doukhobors themselves in order to retell and reclaim their own history.
Drawing from oral interviews, court documents, government reports, prison diaries, and media accounts, Rak demonstrates how the Doukhobors employed both "classic" and alternative forms of autobiography to communicate their views about communal living, vegetarianism, activism, and spiritual life, as well as to pass on traditions to successive generations. More than a historical work, this book brings together recent theories concerning subjectivity, autobiography, and identity, and shows how Doukhobor autobiographical discourse forms a series of ongoing negotiations for identity and collective survival that are sometimes successful and sometimes not.
An innovative study, Negotiating Memory will appeal to those interested in autobiography studies as well as to historians, literary critics, and students and scholars of Canadian cultural studies.
Drawing from oral interviews, court documents, government reports, prison diaries, and media accounts, Rak demonstrates how the Doukhobors employed both "classic" and alternative forms of autobiography to communicate their views about communal living, vegetarianism, activism, and spiritual life, as well as to pass on traditions to successive generations. More than a historical work, this book brings together recent theories concerning subjectivity, autobiography, and identity, and shows how Doukhobor autobiographical discourse forms a series of ongoing negotiations for identity and collective survival that are sometimes successful and sometimes not.
An innovative study, Negotiating Memory will appeal to those interested in autobiography studies as well as to historians, literary critics, and students and scholars of Canadian cultural studies.
Reviews / Votes
What Rak has written is a serious and worthwhile addition to our understanding of the way a marginalized people struggles, against all those social currents that would silence them, to find and honour a collective autobiographical voice. - Myler Wilkinson, Selkirk College (BC Studies, Spring 2005) In her methodologically ground-breaking book, Negotiated Memory, Julie Rak uses autobiographical discourse (as opposed to autobiographical genre), cultural context, and historical narrative to theorize about the relationships among the meanings of identity, place and nation...However, the book is much more than an innovative use of autobiographical discourse as a post-colonial tool useful in studying powerless groups. Negotiated Memory is also a rich cultural history of the migration and adaptation experiences of an often misunderstood religious group. - Susan W. Hardwick, Department of Geography, University of Oregon (American Review of Canadian Studies, Autumn 2005) This will be a useful and informative text for students of Canadian studies, as well as those interested in critical autobiography and identity theory ... Rak does a very good job of navigating the complex topography of Doukhobor autobiographical discourse within the Canadian historical landscape. - Vicki S. Hallett (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 1, Winter 2006)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Vancouver
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
367 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7748-1030-2 (9780774810302)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Julie Rak is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Alberta.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Beyond Auto-Bio-Graphe: Autobiography and Alternative Identities
2 Doukhobor Beliefs and Historical Moments
3 Vechnaiia Pamit in the Diaspora: Community Meanings of History and Migration
4 Negotiating Identity: Doukhobor Oral Narratives
5 Witness, Negotiation, Performance: Freedomite Autobiography
Conclusion: Negotiating the "I" and "We" in Autobiography
Notes
References
Index
Introduction
1 Beyond Auto-Bio-Graphe: Autobiography and Alternative Identities
2 Doukhobor Beliefs and Historical Moments
3 Vechnaiia Pamit in the Diaspora: Community Meanings of History and Migration
4 Negotiating Identity: Doukhobor Oral Narratives
5 Witness, Negotiation, Performance: Freedomite Autobiography
Conclusion: Negotiating the "I" and "We" in Autobiography
Notes
References
Index