Imagining Difference: Legend, Curse, and Spectacle in a Canadian Mining Town

348 Pages·2005·5.444 MB·English

by  Leslie A. Robertson

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Imagining Difference
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Leslie A. Robertson
Imagining Difference:
Legend, Curse, and Spectacle in a
Canadian Mining Town
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© UBC Press 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior
written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying
or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian
Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca.
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Robertson, Leslie, 1962-
Imagining difference : legend, curse and spectacle in a Canadian
mining town / Leslie A. Robertson.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7748-1092-0
1. Ethnology – British Columbia – Fernie. 2. Indians of North America –
British Columbia – Fernie – Folklore. 3. Legends – British Columbia – Fernie.
4. Blessing and cursing. 5. Group identity. 6. Differentiation (Sociology)
7. Fernie (B.C.) – Social conditions. I. Title.
HN110.F47R62 2004 305´.09711´65 C2004-906031-7
UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the Wnancial support for our publishing
program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry
Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the
British Columbia Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to
Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and with the help of
the K.D. Srivastava Fund.
UBC Press
The University of British Columbia

2029 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
604-822-5959/Fax: [phone]
www.ubcpress.ca
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In memory of my grandmother,
Margaret Castle (1913-2003)
And our friends,
Victoria Kucera (1909-1998)
Maria Anebaldi (1900-1998)
Maria Gigliotti (1899-1999)
Tina Hesketh (1912-1998)
Wanda Slavens (1916-2004)
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Contents
Illustrations / ix
Acknowledgments / xi
Preface: Knowing Who Your Neighbours Are / xiii
Introduction: Ideas Make Acts Possible / xix
Part One: Politics of Cursing / 1
1 Conversations among Europeans and Other Acts of Possession / 5
2 Látkép ( Ansicht ( View ( ВИД: Constructing the “Foreign” / 33
3 “The Story As I Know It” / 69
Part Two: Imagining Difference / 101
4 A Moment of Silence / 107
5 Getting Rid of the Story / 147
6 Development, Discovery, and Disguise / 181
7 One Step Beyond / 214
Epilogue: Waiting / 248
Notes / 257

References / 269
Index / 293
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Illustrations
Maps
1 East Kootenay region / xlvi
2 City of Fernie / 104
Figures
1 Mural on the ice arena: Junior “A” hockey team logo, the
Ghostrider / xv
2 Advertisement detailing the testimony of a Boer War veteran / 38
3 “Weighing Meat for Relief Supplies after the Great Fire.” Postcard,
1 August 1908 / 58
4 “Getting Supplies at Relief Stores after the Great Fire.” Postcard,
1 August 1908 / 59
5 Advertisement for Sells-Floto Circus. 7 July 1914 / 60
6 Postcard/Photograph of Will Nattrass during the First World War,
ca. 1916 / 62
7 Morrissey Internment Camp, 19 August 1916 / 63
8 “Interned Austrians and Germans. Fernie, BC.” Postcard / 64
9 Wall image: St. Anthony / 81
10 Cave Mountain. Postcard sent 16 July 1909 / 91
11 Black cat, crescent moon, and horseshoes. Postcard, ca. First World
War / 95
12 “Festschmuck in Neapel beim Empfang des Führers Adolf Hitler in
Italien, Mai 1938.” Postcard, 1938 / 109
13 “Araberjunge in Tripolis vor dem Stern der Siege.” Postcard, ca. Second
World War / 110
14 Chief Red Eagle (Ambrose Gravelle) at left with former chief Big
Crane (Joe Dennis) at the curse-lifting ceremony in Fernie,
14 August 1964 / 156
15 Shadow on Hosmer Mountain, August 1966 / 183
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x Illustrations
16 “The Ghostrider of Hosmer Mountain, Fernie, British Columbia. The
Canadian Rockies.” Postcard / 184
17 “On the Street” with the Three Sisters, the Ghostrider, and the
Griz / 194
18 J.F. van Delft’s 1997 poster campaign, “Who is Holga?” / 210
19 1998 hockey program: Newly stylized logo of the Fernie Ghostrider
hockey team / 217
20 GrafWti: Westside Gang / 233