Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“Disobedient objects have a history as long as social struggles itself….Objects have played a key role in social change alongside of performance, music and the visual arts.” From the introduction
“To disobey in order to take action is the byword of creative spirit.” Gaston Bachelard, quoted in this book
This well-illustrated book is more than a catalogue accompanying an exhibition; it is a thoughtful and informative description of how ordinary objects -from plastic drink bottles to scraps of fabric to even Read more [...] Author Archives: Theresa Wolfwood. Director, The Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
Flood, Catherine and Gavin Grindon, editors. DISOBEDIENT OBJECTS V&A publishing, 2014. The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK ISBN-978=1-85177-797-6
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“Disobedient objects have a history as long as social struggles itself….Objects have played a key role in social change alongside of performance, music and the visual arts.” From the introduction
“To disobey in order to take action is the byword of creative spirit.” Gaston Bachelard, quoted in this book
This well-illustrated book is more than a catalogue accompanying an exhibition; it is a thoughtful and informative description of how ordinary objects -from plastic drink bottles to scraps of fabric to even Read more [...] Comments Off on Flood, Catherine and Gavin Grindon, editors. DISOBEDIENT OBJECTS V&A publishing, 2014. The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK ISBN-978=1-85177-797-6
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Wayman, Tom. A COUNTRY NOT CONSIDERED: Canada, Culture, Work. 1993. House of Anansi Press. Toronto, ON.
“…Economy is the bone, politics is the flesh,
watch who they beat and who they eat,
watch who they relieve themselves on, watch who
they own.
The rest is decoration.” from In the Men’s Room(s) by Marge Piercy
I wish I had found this book 10 years ago, bought it and re-read it regularly as I tried and still do to make the connections between creativity and political activism. Wayman is a Canadian poet, teacher and activist who lives and works in the interior ofBritish Read more [...]
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Maximillian Forte. SLOUCHING TOWARDS SIRTE: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa. 2012. Baraka Books. Montreal, Canada
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“NATO’s war in Libya was advertised as a humanitarian intervention- bombing in the name of ‘saving lives’.”
As Canada goes to war again in Western Asia, it is important to remember our humanitarian (read: military) intervention into Libya a few years ago. Forte’s book is valuable history of our unflagging enthusiasm for killing people somewhere else at the slightest nod from our occupiers, the USA; but it is important reading now as rumors spread that we may go to war in Libya (again) Read more [...] Comments Off on Maximillian Forte. SLOUCHING TOWARDS SIRTE: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa. 2012. Baraka Books. Montreal, Canada
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Marjorie Agosín, editor. Stitching Resistance: Women, Creativity, and Fiber Arts 2014. Solis Press. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England ISBN 978-1-907947-90-2
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“…female fiber art has often been crafted to explore social issues and inspire change for the benefit of their communities and the world.”
Resistance to violence and injustice is a powerful force in all societies; when that resistance takes the form of art it becomes an even more powerful force to communicate with and to inspire effective resistance. For women in many societies the creative resistance has taken the form of textile art, familiar, almost exclusively female, domestic skills used to express personal Read more [...] Abunimah, Ali. THE BATTLE FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE. 2014. Haymarket Book, Chicago, USA. ISBN 978-1-60846-324-4
Review & photos by Theresa Wolfwood “The victory against Israeli apartheid, colonialism, and racism that I am convinced Palestinians and their allies have in their power to make will not be theirs alone. It will belong to everyone who believes in, and fights for, equality and justice.”
Abunimah is the director & creator of: www.electronicintifada.net and author of ONE COUNTRY: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, review: http://bookreviews.bbcf.ca/2012/09/abunimah-ali-one-country-a-bold-proposal-to-end-the-israeli-palestinian-impasse-2006-metropolitan-books-us Read more [...] Comments Off on Abunimah, Ali. THE BATTLE FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE. 2014. Haymarket Book, Chicago, USA. ISBN 978-1-60846-324-4
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Hak, Gordon. THE LEFT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: A history of struggle.2013. Ronsdale Press, Vancouver, BC. ISBN978-1-55380-256-3
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“Defining the left with precision is not straightforward. For one thing the left includes diverse values, ideas, strategies and institutions. Social democracy and communism, reformers and revolutionaries, unions and radical women’s groups have all found their home on the left.”
Hak has given us a readable well-documented view of these many forces in BC over the last 100 year or so...and no end in sight. Not for nothing are we called the left coast these days even though as he says, here as elsewhere in the Read more [...]
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Osorio, Jesus Tecu. Memoir of the Rio Negro Massacres. 2012. Translated from the Spanish & published with assistance of Rights Action & Breaking the Silence Solidarity Network. www.mayawuj.nawalwuj.com ISBN 978-9929-634-008
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
Images from the book
“May my parents’ tragic story live on in the memories of my children”
“The objective... is to share the bloody history that we have lived and to make this story available in all of the education centres so that our children and grandchildren may know it and never forget it.”
The only country in North America that is populated with a majority of indigenous peoples, resource-rich Guatemala has a long and brutal history that continues today. This straightforward narrative Read more [...] Comments Off on Osorio, Jesus Tecu. Memoir of the Rio Negro Massacres. 2012. Translated from the Spanish & published with assistance of Rights Action & Breaking the Silence Solidarity Network. www.mayawuj.nawalwuj.com ISBN 978-9929-634-008
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Badami, Anita Rau. Tamarind Mem. Penguin Books, Canada ISBN: 0-14-0257414-4
Review by Sumeet Grover Tamarind Mem, a Canadian bestseller novel, is an infectious and unforgettable story of an extensively engaged childhood, family, identity, culture and its inherent oppression of women, narrated through genius storytelling. Deep inside the heart of this story is an exceptionally precise narration of Indian culture in a way that is shameless yet proud and at times humorous, just like the story's characters.
Recently moved to Calgary, where thick snow brings all noise Read more [...] Comments Off on Badami, Anita Rau. Tamarind Mem. Penguin Books, Canada ISBN: 0-14-0257414-4
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King,Thomas. THE INCONVIENIENT INDIAN: A curious account of native people in North America.2012. Anchor Canada. Random House. Canada ISBN 978-0-385-66422-6
This is a widely recommended book in Canada and deservedly so. King is a witty, articulate and colourful writer and that comes through even in this painful and devastating history of the 1st peoples of the two largest countries on our continent – native people, as he writes, do not recognize our European-imposed borders. For more than 500 years, Europeans have occupied native land; we may have wanted to eliminate or assimilate them, but King and his book are proof that native people and their culture have not only survived our mistreatment, but Read more [...] Comments Off on King,Thomas. THE INCONVIENIENT INDIAN: A curious account of native people in North America.2012. Anchor Canada. Random House. Canada ISBN 978-0-385-66422-6
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Khalidi, Anbara Salam. MEMOIRS of AN EARLY ARAB FEMINIST: The life and Activism of Anbara Salam Khalidi. 2013. Pluto Press. London, UK. Translated from Arabic by Tarif Khalidi ISBN 978 0 7453 3356 4
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“I do not intend to write journal or history of my family...these memoirs might be described as a history of some landmarks of the age in which I lived...”
Readers should not be put off by the naïve and simple style of writing in this memoir. The author, lauded in the Arab world for her early bold feminism, writes with clear insight and impassioned engagement about a complex and conflict-ridden period of history in Lebanon and its neighbouring states; complexities and conflicts that are still with us today.
Khaladi, Read more [...] Comments Off on Khalidi, Anbara Salam. MEMOIRS of AN EARLY ARAB FEMINIST: The life and Activism of Anbara Salam Khalidi. 2013. Pluto Press. London, UK. Translated from Arabic by Tarif Khalidi ISBN 978 0 7453 3356 4
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Karmi, Ghada. MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine. Pluto Press. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-7453-2065-6
Review & author photo by Theresa Wolfwood
The author writes that the title of this book comes from, “following the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 at which the idea of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine was first mooted, the rabbis of Vienna dispatched two representatives to investigate the suitability of the country for such an enterprise. The men reported the result of their explorations in this cable to Vienna: The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man. It was not “A land without people for a people without Read more [...] Comments Off on Karmi, Ghada. MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine. Pluto Press. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-7453-2065-6
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Michiko Midge Ayukawa. HIROSHIMA IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA 1891-1941. UBC Press, Vancouver, BC ISBN 978-0-7748-1432-4
Review by Theresa Wolfwood Author photo by Betty Andrews
With the passing of the author in October, BC lost a historian and community leader. After her retirement from her career as a scientist and teacher, Ayukawa returned to university to study Japanese history and language; this book is the result of her PhD work. I had the good fortune to attend her thesis defence at UVIC and to meet her external examiner, Thomas Shoyama, the architect of Saskatchewan’s and Canada’s health care acts, another prominent person of the Japanese Read more [...] Comments Off on Michiko Midge Ayukawa. HIROSHIMA IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA 1891-1941. UBC Press, Vancouver, BC ISBN 978-0-7748-1432-4
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