Nothing to write home about : British family correspondence and the settler colonial everyday in British Columbia / Laura Ishiguro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ishiguro, Laura, 1984- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

British--British Columbia--Correspondence.

British.

Colonists--British Columbia--Correspondence.

Colonists.

Immigrants--British Columbia--Correspondence.

Immigrants.

Letter writing--British Columbia--History--19th century.

Letter writing.

Letter writing--British Columbia--History--20th century.

Families--British Columbia--Sources.

Families.

Emigration and immigration.

History.

British Columbia--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century--Sources.

British Columbia.

British Columbia--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century--Sources.

British Columbia--Biography--Sources.

Genre:

Biographies.

Sources.

History.

Records and correspondence.

Correspondence.

Personal correspondence.

Physical Description:

xiii, 291 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Vancouver ; Toronto : UBC Press, [2019]

Summary:

"In the context of surging interests in reconciliation and decolonization, settler colonialism increasingly occupies political, public, and academic conversations. Turning from the emphasis on Indigenous-settler relations and state policy, Nothing to Write Home About uncovers the colonial significance of trans-imperial families, the everyday, and silence in British family correspondence sent between the United Kingdom and British Columbia between 1858 and 1914. Drawing on thousands of letters, Nothing to Write Home About is a detailed study offering insights into epistolary topics including intimacy and conflict, boredom and food, and what correspondents chose not to write about. Analyzing both the letters' content and their loaded silences, Laura Ishiguro traces how Britons used the post to navigate the family separations integral to their migration and understand British Columbia as an uncontested settler home. This book argues that these letters and their writers played a critical role in laying the foundations of a powerful, personal settler colonial order that continues to structure the province today. Nothing to Write Home About is the first substantial study of family correspondence and settler colonialism. By underscoring the entwined significance of family and the everyday in a formative period in British Columbia, it offers a timely new lens into the global and local dynamics of settler colonialism."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Bind the Empire together: the postal system, family letters, and British Columbia

Affection can overstep distance: the letter as trans-imperial family

Absolutely nothing going on: epistolary emotion and unremarkable colonial knowledge

A dreadful little glutton: settler food practices and the epistolary everyday

Irreparable loss: family rupture and reconfiguration in letters about death

Say nothing: epistolary gossip, silence, and the strategic limits of intimacy

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Ishiguro, Laura, 1984-, author. Nothing to write home about.:

Online version: Ishiguro, Laura, 1984- Nothing to write home about.

ISBN:

9780774838436

0774838434

OCLC:

1080210446