Treating such issues as animal sex, species politics, environmental justice, lesbian space and "gay" ghettos, AIDS literatures, and queer nationalities, this lively collection asks important questions at the intersections of sexuality and environmental studies. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines present a focused engagement with the critical, philosophical, and political dimensions of sex and nature. These discussions are particularly relevant to current debates in many disciplines, including environmental studies, queer theory, critical race theory, philosophy, literary criticism, and politics. As a whole, Queer Ecologies stands as a powerful corrective to views that equate "natural" with "straight" while "queer" is held to be against nature.

Popularly thought of as a recreational vehicle and one of the key ingredients of an ideal wilderness getaway, the canoe is also a political vessel. A potent symbol and practice of Indigenous cultures and traditions, the canoe has also been adopted to assert conservation ideals, feminist empowerment, citizenship practices, and multicultural goals. Documenting many of these various uses, this book asserts that the canoe is not merely a matter of leisure and pleasure; it is folded into many facets of our political life. Taking a critical stance on the canoe, The Politics of the Canoe expands and enlarges the stories that we tell about the canoe's relationship to, for example, colonialism, nationalism, environmentalism, and resource politics. To think about the canoe as a political vessel is to recognize how intertwined canoes are in the public life, governance, authority, social conditions, and ideologies of particular cultures, nations, and states. Almost everywhere we turn, and any way we look at it, the canoe both affects and is affected by complex political and cultural histories. Across Canada and the U.S., canoeing cultures have been born of activism and resistance as much as of adherence to the mythologies of wilderness and nation building. The essays in this volume show that canoes can enhance how we engage with and interpret not only our physical environments, but also our histories and present-day societies.

Popularly thought of as a recreational vehicle and one of the key ingredients of an ideal wilderness getaway, the canoe is also a political vessel. A potent symbol and practice of Indigenous cultures and traditions, the canoe has also been adopted to assert conservation ideals, feminist empowerment, citizenship practices, and multicultural goals. Documenting many of these various uses, this book asserts that the canoe is not merely a matter of leisure and pleasure; it is folded into many facets of our political life. Taking a critical stance on the canoe, The Politics of the Canoe expands and enlarges the stories that we tell about the canoe's relationship to, for example, colonialism, nationalism, environmentalism, and resource politics. To think about the canoe as a political vessel is to recognize how intertwined canoes are in the public life, governance, authority, social conditions, and ideologies of particular cultures, nations, and states. Almost everywhere we turn, and any way we look at it, the canoe both affects and is affected by complex political and cultural histories. Across Canada and the U.S., canoeing cultures have been born of activism and resistance as much as of adherence to the mythologies of wilderness and nation building. The essays in this volume show that canoes can enhance how we engage with and interpret not only our physical environments, but also our histories and present-day societies.

In the summer of 2007, the CBC declared the canoe to be one of the
Seven Wonders of Canada. More than an ancient means of transportation
and trade, it has come to represent a vision of Canada that encompasses
our past and present. It stands for cultural tradition, commerce,
recreation, nature, and even political protest.
In "Canoe Nation, " Bruce Erickson chronicles the story of the
canoe in the Canadian imagination. He argues that the canoe's
sentimental power has come about through a set of narratives that
attempt to legitimize a particular vision of Canada - including
this country's history of colonialism and industrialization
- and explores how the canoe shifted from being an
industrial-economic vehicle in the fur trade to its contemporary place
as a recreational vessel. From Alexander Mackenzie to Grey Owl to
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the canoe has been overvalued as a connection
to the "nature" of Canada. Examining voyageur
re-enactments, turn-of-the-century sportsman stories, and the
subsequent "greening" of the canoe, this book shows how
this symbol authenticates Canada's reputation as a tolerant,
environmentalist nation, even when there is evidence to the contrary.
Ultimately, the stories we tell about the canoe need to be understood
as moments in the ever-contested field of cultural politics.

Bruce Erickson is an assistant professor in the
Department of Geography at York University in Toronto.