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Showing 1 - 20 of 40 items
Poets and pahlevans: a journey into the heart of Iran
By Marcello Di Cintio. 2006
Di Cintio prepares for his journey to Iran by taking lessons in Farsi, researching Persian poetry and sharpening his wrestling…
skills. Once there, he talks politics with men in tea houses, wrestles, and visits sites and shrines associated with great Persian poets, learning that poetry is loved and quoted by everyone from taxi-drivers to students. The mosaic of incidents, encounters, conversations, sights, smells and moments creates a detailed impression of a country and society that will challenge preconceptions. 2006.Le roman de Pékin (Le roman des lieux et destins magiques)
By Bernard Brizay. 2008
Pour les Chinois, comme pour les Occidentaux, jamais capitale n'a autant mérité le statut de ville mythique. Résidence du Fils…
du Ciel, capitale administrative, culturelle et religieuse du plus vieux, du plus peuplé et du plus grand empire au monde, Pékin et la Cité pourpre interdite où vivait l'empereur, entouré de ses concubines et de ses eunuques, fait toujours fantasmer. Le palais impérial est resté pendant cinq cents ans le centre sacré de l'Empire, le siège du gouvernement, où s'est écrite la grande histoire, celle de la Chine. Et la petite histoire, car la Cité interdite fut aussi le lieu privilégié d'intrigues, de drames et de crimes. 2008.Arabian sands
By Wilfred Thesiger. 1984
Thesiger, the son of a British diplomat, was born in a mud hut in Addis Ababa in 1910. This is…
the account of his travels from 1945 to 1950 during which he lived among the Bedouins and traversed the "Empty Quarter", a vast, arid desert. 1984.A place within: rediscovering India
By M. G Vassanji. 2008
Author M. G. Vassanji was born in Africa, where his Indian grandparents had settled, and his relationship to India had…
been complex and contradictory. Vassanji describes his many visits to India, encompassing bustling cities, quiet landscapes, fantastic stories and fascinating characters, in this his part travelogue and description, part history and meditation, and above all a quest for a lost homeland. Some descriptions of violence. Winner of the 2009 Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction. Canada Reads 2012. 2008.Life and death on Mt. Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan mountaineering
By Sherry B Ortner. 1999
For more than a century, climbers from around the world have journeyed to test themselves on Everest's treacherous slopes, enlisting…
the expert aid of the Sherpas who live in the area. Drawing on years of field research in the Himalayas, renowned anthropologist Sherry Ortner presents a compelling account of the evolving relationship between the mountaineers and the Sherpas, a relationship of mutual dependence and cultural conflict played out in an environment of mortal risk. 1999.De Kebec à Québec: cinq siècles d'échanges entre nous
By Denis Bouchard, Éric Cardinal, Ghislain Picard. 2008
"Alors que notre société se questionne fortement sur les relations que nous entretenons avec les diverses ethnies qui vivent au…
Québec, nous oublions souvent de réfléchir sur nos rapports avec les Autochtones. Depuis le début de la Nouvelle-France, les Blancs et les Autochtones se sont côtoyés et ils ont appris à vivre ensemble au fil du temps. De nos jours, nous semblons ne plus nous souvenir des rapports amicaux d'échange et d'entraide que nous avons établis avec les Premières Nations du Québec. Il est donc impératif de rétablir les ponts et de s'interroger sur l'avenir de nos relations. Éric Cardinal a rédigé cet ouvrage en collaboration avec Denis Bouchard et Ghislain Picard, qui ont cette passion commune de la Nouvelle-France et des Premières Nations. À travers leurs discussions à bâtons rompus, l'idée de ce livre est venue." -- 4e de couv.1491: nouvelles révélations sur les Amériques avant Christophe Colomb
By Charles C Mann, Marina Boraso. 2007
Synthèse des découvertes les plus récentes, fruit du travail colossal d'archéologues, d'anthropologues, de scientifiques et d'historiens, le livre de Charles…
C. Mann nous montre pour la première fois le vrai visage des mondes précolombiens. Une mosaïque de peuples, de langues, de cultures, d'empires, de cités puissantes, souvent plus riches et plus vastes que celles d'Europe ; un creuset de civilisations brillantes et évoluées, soucieuses de leur environnement. Et non pas le continent vierge et sous-exploité que l'Histoire officielle a voulu nous présenter. De la forêt amazonienne aux plateaux andins des Incas, du Mexique maya, olmèque ou aztèque aux villages des Iroquois, 1491 rétablit une vérité historique longtemps niée et nous entraîne au coeur d'un voyage fantastique à travers des Amériques que nous découvrons peut-être pour la première fois sous leur véritable jour. -- 4e de couv. Titre uniforme: 1491 : new revelations of the Americas before Columbus.Le vol du paon mène à Lhassa ((Le sentiment géographique).)
By Élodie Bernard. 2010
Peu de temps après les émeutes de 2008 à Lhassa, alors que la planète regarde vers les Jeux olympiques de…
Pékin, la situation dans l'Ouest chinois est verrouillée. Hors d'un groupe organisé, le séjour pour de simples voyageurs en République autonome du Tibet n'y est plus toléré. Sont nécessaires un guide, un chauffeur et un permis sur lequel sera retranscrit l'exact tracé des chemins empruntés au cours du périple, de manière à contrôler toutes les informations qui sortent du Tibet. Élodie Bernard, alors âgée de 24 ans, a choisi de pénétrer seule et sans autorisation sur le Toit du Monde, pour s'immerger dans la société tibétaine, observer la vie quotidienne dans les villes et les campagnes, rassembler des témoignages de l'intérieur sur la répression en cours [...]. -- 4e de couv.Thaïlande ((Passions d'ailleurs))
By Pierre Lamant. 2001
Conçus comme un voyage en soi, les livres de la collection font découvrir un pays en entrant peu à peu…
dans : la vie quotidienne, à travers ce que l'on perçoit dès l'arrivée dans le pays ; l'histoire, racontée à travers les grands monuments; les villes, décrites à travers des circuits, des trajets : itinéraires culturels, parcours culinaires, parcs et jardins, marchés... ; les paysages et les sites naturels, présentés de façon à mettre en valeur leurs aspects remarquables : mer, montagnes, îles, déserts ou volcans... ; les loisirs, les fêtes et la culture contemporaine, aident le lecteur à partager la vie des habitants. - 4e de couv.The tiger: a true story of vengeance and survival
By John Vaillant. 2010
Nature writer follows a government tiger-control team as it pursues an endangered Siberian tiger, which had killed a poacher, through…
Russia's far east in the winter of 1997. Explores the beauty of the setting, the tiger's strength, and the political and geographical forces that shaped this remote region. Canada Reads 2012. 2010.Lands of lost borders: out of bounds on the Silk Road
By Kate Harris. 2018
As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she most craved--that of a generalist explorer--had gone extinct. So she…
vowed to become a scientist and go to Mars. Well along this path, Harris set off by bicycle down a short section of the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel Yule. This trip was just a simulacrum of exploration, but Harris realized that an explorer, in any day and age, is by definition the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. Forget charting maps, naming peaks, leaving footprints on another planet: what she yearned for was the feeling of soaring completely out of bounds. And where she'd felt that most intensely was on a bicycle, on a bygone trading route. So Harris hit the Silk Road again with Yule, this time determined to bike it from beginning to end. Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, she celebrates our connection as humans to the natural world, and ultimately to each other--a belonging that transcends any fences or stories that may divide us. Bestseller. Winner of the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize. 2018.A mind spread out on the ground
By Alicia Elliott. 2019
In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about Native people in North America while drawing on intimate…
details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight and understanding to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. What are the links between depression, colonialism and loss of language--both figurative and literal? How does white privilege operate in different contexts? How do we navigate the painful contours of mental illness in loved ones without turning them into their sickness? How does colonialism operate on the level of literary criticism? A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is Alicia Elliott's attempt to answer these questions and more. In the process, she engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, sexuality, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing and representation. Elliott makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political--from overcoming a years-long history with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft dinner to how systematic oppression is linked to depression in Native communities. With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott extends far beyond her own experiences to provide a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future. Bestseller. Winner of the 2020 Evergreen Award. 2019.P is for Pakistan
By Shazia Razzak, Prodeepta Das. 2007
Each letter of the alphabet is associated with a word in Urdu or English that has something to do with…
Pakistan's history, culture, or geography. Grades K-3 and older readers. 2007.The Man Who Lived with a Giant: Stories from Johnny Neyelle, Dene Elder
By Alana Fletcher, Morris Neyelle. 2019
Our parents always taught us well. They told us to look on the good side of life and to accept…
what has to happen. The Man Who Lived with a Giant is a collection of traditional and personal stories told by Johnny Neyelle, a Dene Elder from Déline, Northwest Territories. Johnny used storytelling to teach Dene youth and others to understand and celebrate Dene traditions and knowledge. Johnny’s voice makes his stories accessible to readers young and old, and his wisdom reinforces the right way to live: in harmony with people and places. Storytelling forms the core of Dene knowledge-keeping, making this a vital book for Dene people of today and tomorrow, researchers working with Indigenous cultures and oral histories, and all those dedicated to preserving Elders’ stories.Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: A Memoir
By Theodore Fontaine. 2010
“Too many survivors of Canada’s Indian residential schools live to forget. Theodore Fontaine writes to remember." - Hana Gartner, CBC's…
The Fifth Estate Now an approved curriculum resource for grade 9–12 students in British Columbia and Manitoba. Theodore (Ted) Fontaine lost his family and freedom just after his seventh birthday, when his parents were forced to leave him at an Indian residential school by order of the Roman Catholic Church and the Government of Canada. Twelve years later, he left school frozen at the emotional age of seven. He was confused, angry and conflicted, on a path of self-destruction. At age 29, he emerged from this blackness. By age 32, he had graduated from the Civil Engineering Program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and begun a journey of self-exploration and healing. In this powerful and poignant memoir, Ted examines the impact of his psychological, emotional and sexual abuse, the loss of his language and culture, and, most important, the loss of his family and community. He goes beyond details of the abuses of Native children to relate a unique understanding of why most residential school survivors have post-traumatic stress disorders and why succeeding generations of First Nations children suffer from this dark chapter in history. Told as remembrances described with insights that have evolved through his healing, his story resonates with his resolve to help himself and other residential school survivors and to share his enduring belief that one can pick up the shattered pieces and use them for good.In Search of Almighty Voice: Resistance and Reconciliation
By Bill Waiser. 2020
In May 1897, Almighty Voice, a member of the One Arrow Willow Cree, died violently when Canada's North-West Mounted Police…
shelled the fugitive's hiding place. Since then, his violent death has spawned a succession of conflicting stories — from newspaper features, magazine articles and pulp fiction to plays and film.Almighty Voice has been maligned, misunderstood, romanticized, celebrated, and invented. Indeed, there have been many Almighty Voices over the years. What these stories have in common is that the Willow Cree man mattered. Understanding why he mattered has a direct bearing on reconciliation efforts today.111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl (CitizenKid)
By Rina Singh, Marianne Ferrer. 2020
A boy grows up to make positive change in his community. After suffering much heartache, Sundar decides change must come…
to his small Indian village. He believes girls should be valued as much as boys and that land should not be needlessly destroyed. Sundar's plan? To celebrate the birth of every girl with the planting of 111 trees. Though many villagers resist at first, Sundar slowly gains their support, and today, over a quarter of a million trees grow in his village. A once barren, deforested landscape has become a fertile, prosperous one where girls can thrive. Sure to plant seeds of hope in children. Improving the world is within everyone's reach.Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
By Harley Rustad. 2022
NATIONAL BESTSELLER In the vein of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, a riveting work of narrative nonfiction centering on the…
unsolved disappearance of an American backpacker in India—one of at least two dozen tourists who have met a similar fate in the remote and storied Parvati Valley.For centuries, India has enthralled Westerners looking for an exotic getaway, a brief immersion in yoga and meditation, or, in rare cases, a true pilgrimage to find spiritual revelation. Justin Alexander Shetler, an inveterate traveler trained in wilderness survival, was one such seeker. In his early thirties, Justin quit his job at a tech startup and set out on a global journey—across the United States by motorcycle, then down to South America, and on to the Philippines, Thailand, and Nepal—in search of authentic experiences and meaningful encounters while documenting his travels on Instagram. His enigmatic character and magnetic personality gained him a devoted following who lived vicariously through his adventures. But the ever-restless explorer was driven to seek out ever-greater extremes, and greater risks, in what had become a personal quest—his own hero’s journey. In 2016, he made his way to the Parvati Valley, a remote and rugged corner of the Indian Himalayas steeped in mystical tradition and shrouded in darkness and danger. There he spent weeks studying under the guidance of a sadhu, an Indian holy man, living and meditating in a cave. At the end of August, accompanied by the sadhu, he set off on a spiritual journey to a holy lake—one from which he would never return. Lost in the Valley of Death is about one man’s search to find himself, in a country where, for many Westerners, the path to spiritual enlightenment can prove fraught, even treacherous. But it is also a story about all of us and the ways, sometimes extreme, we seek fulfillment in life.Stories of Métis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me (Indigenous Spirit of Nature)
By Bailey Oster. 2021
In this era of reconciliation, Stories of Métis Women explains the Métis Nation from the women’s perspective. Often misunderstood, the…
Métis are an Indigenous People with a unique and proud history and Nation. This book celebrates Nation building, culture, identity, and resilience, but also deals with the dark times of residential schools, discrimination, and racism. The women’s stories are in English and Northern Michif language.Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples
By Chief Clarence Louie. 2021
A common-sense blueprint for what the future of First Nations should look like as told through the fascinating life and…
legacy of a remarkable leader.In 1984, at the age of twenty-four, Clarence Louie was elected Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band in the Okanagan Valley. Nineteen elections later, Chief Louie has led his community for nearly four decades. The story of how the Osoyoos Indian Band—“The Miracle in the Desert”—transformed from a Rez that once struggled with poverty into an economically independent people is well-known. Guided by his years growing up on the Rez, Chief Louie believes that economic and business independence are key to self-sufficiency, reconciliation, and justice for First Nations people. In Rez Rules, Chief Louie writes about his youth in Osoyoos, from early mornings working in the vineyards, to playing and coaching sports, and attending a largely white school in Oliver, B.C. He remembers enrolling in the “Native American Studies” program at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College in 1979 and falling in love with First Nations history. Learning about the historic significance of treaties was life-changing. He recalls his first involvement in activism: participating in a treaty bundle run across the country before embarking on a path of leadership. He and his band have worked hard to achieve economic growth and record levels of employment. Inspired by his ancestors’ working culture, and by the young people on the reserve, Chief Louie continues to work for First Nations’ self-sufficiency and independence. Direct and passionate, Chief Louie brings together wide-ranging subjects: life on the Rez, including Rez language and humour; per capita payments; the role of elected chiefs; the devastating impact of residential schools; the need to look to culture and ceremony for governance and guidance; the use of Indigenous names and logos by professional sports teams; his love for motorcycle honour rides; and what makes a good leader. He takes aim at systemic racism and examines the relationship between First Nations and colonial Canada and the United States, and sounds a call to action for First Nations to “Indian Up!” and “never forget our past.” Offering leadership lessons on and off the Rez, this memoir describes the fascinating life and legacy of a remarkable leader and provides a common-sense blueprint for the future of First Nations communities. In it, Chief Louie writes, “Damn, I’m lucky to be an Indian!”