At Home Afloat
Women on the Waters of the Pacific Northwest

Nancy Pagh

ISBN 1552380289
$24.95 paper
October 2000

208 pages
17 photographs/illustrations
1 map
bibliography, index

 

About the Book

Considering accounts written by Northwest Coast marine tourists between 1861 and 1990, Nancy Pagh examines the ways that gender influences the roles women play at sea, the spaces they occupy on boats, and the language they use to describe their experiences, their natural surroundings, and their contact with Native peoples.

Unique features of this book include its interdisciplinary nature and its combination of scholarly information and a style that general readers will appreciate. The text is engaging, but also serves to make fresh and relevant links between scholarship in diverse areas of inquiry; for example, Western Canadian and American history, feminist geography, post-colonial theory, and women and environments.

"This is a very original book. No one has looked at the materials Pagh explores; her primary background reading is terrific. But more impressive is the way she moves beyond merely introducing her reader to a series of interesting women and texts. She has a strong central thesis, one that intersects with a whole tradition of works in women's studies, and she twists and turns that thesis in relation to more contemporary work like post-colonial studies and anthropology in the chapter on imaginary Indians and ecocriticism in the chapter on women and culture." -- Melody Graulich, editor, Western American Literature, and Professor of English, Utah State University.

 

About the Author

Nancy Pagh was born in Anacortes, Washington, and currently teaches at Western Washington University. She grew up travelling the San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands by boat, and with this book, she turns a critical eye to the writings of other travellers. Dr. Pagh earned degrees in creative writing and literature from the University of New Hampshire, and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from University of British Columbia..

 

Table of Contents

Introduction

  1. Northwest Coast Marine Tourism: A Contextual History
  2. Space for the Mate: Superstition, Ritual, and a Woman's Place
  3. Imaginary Indians: Feminine Discourse and Colonialism Afloat
  4. "Getting Our Dresses Wet": Women, Girls, and the Natural Environment

    Bibliography
    Index

 

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