Books – Women’s Studies

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  Restoring the Balance

  First Nations Women, Community, and Culture

  Eric Guimond (Editor), Gail Guthrie Valaskakis (Editor), Madeline Dion Stout (Editor)

  Restoring the Balance brings to light the work First Nations women have performed, and continue to perform, in cultural continuity and community development. It illustrates the challenges and successes they have had in the areas of law, politics, education, community healing, language, and art, while suggesting significant options for sustained improvement of individual, family, and community well-being.

  Published November 2008 | Gender Studies, Indigenous Studies, Open Access, Women’s Studies

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  Mennonite Women in Canada

  A History

  Marlene Epp (Author)

  Mennonite Women in Canada traces the complex social history and multiple identities of Canadian Mennonite women over 200 years. Marlene Epp explores women’s roles, as prescribed and as lived, within the contexts of immigration and settlement, household and family, church and organizational life, work and education, and in response to social trends and events.

  Published October 2008 | Studies in Immigration and Culture, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, History, Identity Studies, Mennonite Studies, Social History, Women’s Studies

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  A Great Restlessness

  The Life and Politics of Dorise Nielsen

  Faith Johnston (Author)

  Dorise Nielsen was a pioneering feminist, a radical politician, the first Communist elected to Canada’s House of Commons, and the only woman elected in 1940. But despite her remarkable career, until now little has been known about her.

  Published October 2006 | Biography, History, Labour Studies, Political Studies, Women’s Studies

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  Making Ends Meet

  Farm Women’s Work in Manitoba

  Charlotte van de Vorst (Author)

  Based on hundreds of interviews with Manitoba farm men and women, Making Ends Meet reconstructs the common history shared by modern farm women as well as by their mothers and grandmothers. It explores women’s changing roles on the farm, from the early days of the Red River settlement to the twentieth-century farm community.

  Published December 2002 | Agriculture & Food, Gender Studies, History, Labour Studies, Women’s Studies

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  In Her Own Voice

  Childbirth Stories from Mennonite Women

  Katherine Martens (Author)

  Winnipeg writer Katherine Martens interviewed 26 women from the Mennonite community in southern Manitoba, ranging in age from 22 to 88 years old. In the privacy of their kitchens and parlours, over sociable cups of tea, they share with Martens their private fears and joys about what was often seen as a rite of passage into responsible adulthood, and they recalled that childbirth could be a difficult and, at times, traumatic event, but it could also be a radiant and spiritual experience.

  Published May 1997 | Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Mennonite Studies, Women’s Studies

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  Writings by Western Icelandic Women

  Kirsten Wolf (Translator)

  This collection of short stories and poems spans 75 years of writings. It includes translated work by little-known authors such as Undina, “a modest poet,” as well as works in English by prominent writers such as Laura Goodman Salverson, twice a winner of the Governor-General’s Award. From the hopefulness of the early immigration in the 1870s to the conflict of assimilation in the 1950s, the pieces reflect a range of experiences common to immigrant women from many cultures.

  Published January 1997 | Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Icelandic Studies, Literature, Translation, Women’s Studies

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  Women of the First Nations

  Power, Wisdom, and Strength

  Christine Miller (Editor), Patricia Chuchryk (Editor)

  Women of the First Nations examines various aspects of Aboriginal women’s lives from a variety of theoretical and personal perspectives. The authors discuss standard media representations, as well as historical and current realities. They bring new perspectives to discussions on Aboriginal art, literature, historical, and cultural contributions, and they offer diverse viewpoints on present economic, environmental, and political issues. This collection counters the marginalization and silencing of First Nations women’s voices and reflects the power, strength, and wisdom inherent in their lives.

  Published August 1996 | Critical Studies in Native History, Gender Studies, Identity Studies, Indigenous Studies, Women’s Studies

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  Wild Mother Dancing

  Maternal Narrative in Canadian Literature

  Di Brandt (Author)

  Wild Mother Dancing challenges the historical absence of the mother, who, as subject and character, has been repeatedly suppressed and edited out of the literary canon. In her search for sources for telling the new (or old, forbidden story) against a tradition of narrative absence, Brandt turns to Canadian fiction representing a varety of cultural traditions — Margaret Laurence, Daphne Marlatt, Jovette Marchessault, Joy Kogawa, Sky Lee — and a collection of oral interviews about childbirth told by Mennonite women.

  Published September 1993 | Gender Studies, Literary Criticism, Mennonite Studies, Oral History & Storytelling, Women’s Studies

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  The Iron Rose

  The Extraordinary Life of Charlotte Ross, MD

  (Author)

  Charlotte Ross (1843-1916) belonged to the first generation of women to practice medicine in Canada and was Manitoba’s first qualified woman doctor.

  Published January 1992 | Gender Studies, History, Medical History, Women’s Studies

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  Tell the Driver

  A Biography of Elinor F.E. Black, MD

  Julie Vandervoort (Author)

  A biography of Dr. Elinor Black (1905-1982), the first Canadian woman to gain membership in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in London.

  Published January 1992 | Biography, Gender Studies, History, Medical History, Women’s Studies