Review: Stanley Park's Secret (J. Barman)
Jun. 28th, 2006 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcMillions have experienced Vancouver's Stanley Park. British Columbia's most popular tourist site juts out of the downtown core, surrounded by water. To stand in its midst is to forget that one is, in fact, in a major city. The Park is home to coyotes, racoons, eagles, skunk, and all sorts of wildlife. Its nature trails afford visitors and change to experience a West Coast rain forest, albeit a middle growth forest. For us locals, the seawall is a wonderous place to walk, run, cycle or rollerblade. Stanley Park is a marvellous public facility...which, it turns out, wasn't always public property.
In Stanley Park's Secret, Jean Barman brings the stories of those who lived in the Park to the fore. Most would be shocked to learn the last permanent resident died in the 1950s, or that some families had 4 generations resident. Barman uses a range of archival sources and many hours of interviews to give us a tangible sense of what living in Whoi Whoi (near Lumberman's Arch) was like. As those who are familar with the mechanisms of colonialism, race proved critical in determining who was evicted first (Chinese railway workers), or last (mixed Aboriginal/European labourers).
Rather than divulge more, I suggest you grab a copy of the book. Amazon.ca (that's Canada folks) has it offer, as does Amazon US of A. The subject is interesting, but Barman's style is wholly accessible (despite being one of the most well-regarded Canadian historians alive).
n.b. Jean Barman is a colleague and friend and co-supervised my PhD. However I wouldn't've gone out of my way to praise her work had it not impressed me so. Paradoxically, it's the first book of hers I've read...
In Stanley Park's Secret, Jean Barman brings the stories of those who lived in the Park to the fore. Most would be shocked to learn the last permanent resident died in the 1950s, or that some families had 4 generations resident. Barman uses a range of archival sources and many hours of interviews to give us a tangible sense of what living in Whoi Whoi (near Lumberman's Arch) was like. As those who are familar with the mechanisms of colonialism, race proved critical in determining who was evicted first (Chinese railway workers), or last (mixed Aboriginal/European labourers).
Rather than divulge more, I suggest you grab a copy of the book. Amazon.ca (that's Canada folks) has it offer, as does Amazon US of A. The subject is interesting, but Barman's style is wholly accessible (despite being one of the most well-regarded Canadian historians alive).
n.b. Jean Barman is a colleague and friend and co-supervised my PhD. However I wouldn't've gone out of my way to praise her work had it not impressed me so. Paradoxically, it's the first book of hers I've read...
