July/August 2007 Bibliographies

Cowboy Camp
Guy Vanderhaeghe
pp. 20-22

Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley was named after a Cree myth later embellished by Mohawk-Canadian poet Emily Pauline Johnson. In Johnson’s poem, a homeward-bound Native Canadian is canoeing through a lake in the Qu’Appelle Valley when he hears someone calling his name. After shouting, “Who’s there?” and receiving no response, he switches to French: “Qu’appelle?” The response — from the other side of the lake — is his echo. Returning home the next day, the man discovers that his fiancé, who died while he was out on the lake, called out his name with her dying breath.

Though a work of fiction, Johnson’s poem was based on a reality documented by Métis trader Daniel Harmon: Natives in the region often said they heard a voice calling to them from the hills surrounding the valley river. In response, the Natives would respond with “Qui appelle?” or the Cree variant, “Kâ-têpwêt?” This response has since become the namesake of the Qu’Appelle valley and river as well as the town of Qu’Appelle and Fort Qu’Apelle.

The Englishman’s Boy, first published in 1997, won Saskatchewan-born novelist Guy Vanderhaeghe his second Governor General’s Award. The film adaptation, produced by Minds Eye Entertainment, is scheduled to air Spring 2008 on the CBC. The trailer can be viewed at the Minds Eye International website.


“I Am Strong in My Basically”
Jon Turk
pp. 22-26

At 1,660,000 square kilometers, which constitutes roughly 1/6th of China’s landmass (the country’s largest political division), Xinjiang autonomous region is home to some of the most remote terrain on earth: the Turfan Depression, 155 metres below sea level; Qogir or “K2,” a towering peak of 8,611 metres in the Karakoram mountain range; the Eurasian pole, some 320 kilometres north of Urumqi in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, the furthest point on land from any coastline. Xinjiang is composed mostly of broad, grass-covered steppe, but the traditional nomadic yurts now contrast with the modern cities of Urumqi and Kashgar, signs of China’s economic renaissance.

Through four Chinese dynasties, Mongol rule, two periods of independence, and, finally, communist control, Xinjiang has for centuries been the haunt of various tribal groups, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Hui, Kirgiz, Mongols, Uzbeks, to name a few. For more information on the Uyghurs, Xinjiang’s largest ethnic group, visit Uyghur Culture and History, which compiles relevant links.

Uyghur separatist movements continue to attract international attention. In April 2007, Canadian Huseyin Celil was sentenced to life in prison for alleged separatist plotting. Earlier, in February, Uyghur activist Ismail Semed was executed by Chinese authorities for attempting to “split the motherland.” Huseyin’s case in particular has strained Canada-China relations and has inspired a website of support. The Opposite End of China and Xinjiang Watch, both English-language blogs updated from Xinjiang, cover many of these travails.


Dreaming a New Myth
Andrew Westoll
pp. 26-28

The tiny, low-profile country of Suriname may be the next big thing in tourism, thanks to the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, located at the northern end of the Amazon jungle—one of the world’s most remote and diverse stretches of wilderness. Declared a unesco world heritage site in 2000, this 1.6 million-hectare area of jungle has been saved from the development that has ravaged other parts of the Amazon. Consequently, it won’t be the roar of chainsaws but the flash cameras and chatter of eco-tourists in Tilly hats that send caracaras into flight. Conservation International (CI) and their Suriname branch are trying to reap eco-friendly economic benefits from the area by building tourist facilities in the heart of the reserve. But just how eco-friendly can a three-story visitor center in the middle of the jungle be? Read a CI article on the project and decide for yourself.

According to Kamania’s now legendary story, it was a voice he dreamed and the face he saw in a granite boulder that led him to the hidden caves of Wherepai. Communicating with nature is vital to many Amazonian cultures, including the Peruvian Ashaninca tribes — the subject of Michael Posner’s July/August 2006 Walrus article, “Plants with Soul.” Posner’s article explores the Ashanincas’ use of a mind-altering tea to communicate with plant gods that can diagnose and treat illness. If Posner’s piece piques your interest in Amazonian plant-based medicine, check out this slightly outdated but fascinating bbc article on the collaboration of Trio shamans and foreign pharmaceutical companies in the village of Kwamalasamutu.


Extraction
Edward Burtynsky
pp. 32-34

Edward Burtynsky, who wrote about extraction in this issue as well as photographing the cover, is the subject of Jennifer Baichwal’s critically acclaimed documentary Manufactured Landscapes (2006), which was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. You can find a gallery of Burtynsky’s photographs at the artist’s homepage; an audio interview with Burtynsky is also available at the online photography magazine Lens Culture.

To find out more about deforestation of boreal forests in Canada, you can visit these pages. You will also find extensive reporting on the Alberta tar sands in these two Walrus features from 2005 and 2006, and at the cbs News page. The extended passage from British Columbia sci-fi novelist William Gibson, quoted by Burtynsky, can be found in toto at the New York Times website, where it first appeared as an op-ed in 2003, entitled “The Road to Oceania.”