Left History (E-Journal - York University)

Helfrich, Joel T.

47
© Left History 
18.2 (Fall/ Winter 2015)
Creating a “white man’s country” in Australia, South Africa, & the US
Joel T. Helfrich, Monroe Community College
Wulf  D. Hund, Jeremy Krikler and David Roediger, eds., Wages of  Whiteness &
Racist Symbolic Capital (Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2010). 240 pp. $34.64 Hardcover.
The year 2011 marked the twentieth anniversary of  David Roediger’s The Wages
of  Whiteness: Race and the Making of  the American Working Class. Roediger’s path
breaking and influential work was, in part, a response to the countless droves of
white workers in the US who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and then again in
1984, long after and despite Reagan’s dispassionate response to the poor, to
working people, and to the air traffic controllers in August 1981. Reagan was
solidly against organized labour, despite his union leadership and occasional
comments about “solidarity,” “the right to belong to a free trade union,” and
union membership being “one of  the most elemental human rights.” As a Screen
Actors Guild (SAG) labour boss during the 1940s and 1950s, he provided the
Federal Bureau of  Investigation (FBI) with names of  suspected Communist
sympathizers before resigning amid membership pressure regarding his handling
of  a strike in which SAG members unsuccessfully demanded a share of  profits
from studios that were selling film rights to television.
It is no surprise, as Roediger tells us in a 2010 collection of  essays by
various scholars titled, Wages of  Whiteness and Racist Symbolic Capital, “that the first
major studies of  working class white identity and practice were written in reac-
tion to the 1980s regimes of  Ronald Reagan and published in or just after the
term of  George Herbert Walker Bush in the 1990s. These presidencies locate the
then-new studies not only in reactionary times, but also in periods in which sub-
stantial numbers of  white workers, even union members, voted for reaction.”
Notes Roediger, “the moment elicited a passionate interest in working class con-
servatism and its relationship to race. Thinking and voting as whites, rather than
as workers, made the white worker a problem in the present and opened possi-
bilities of  making the emergence of  the white workers an historical problem as
well” (13).
Wages of  Whiteness & Racist Symbolic Capital is a wonderful, compact col-
lection of  essays that includes an introductory “editorial” and three “exposés,”
followed by four case studies. Although I question the staying power of  this col-
lection versus any number of  monographs written during the last 25 years, I do
think that there are several significant insights to be gleaned from the critical
study of  whiteness in global settings. Much of  the book rests on outlining and
providing examples of  the myriad ways that white politicians, union leaders, and
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 47
mining, sugar, and auto manufacturers attempted to turn various places globally
into “white man’s country.” This repeated theme, as well as the role of  imperial-
ism and colonialism, is extremely significant. Various authors in the collection
highlight the numerous nineteenth and twentieth century exclusionary immigra-
tion and employment policies, lasting violence, unequal labour laws, and count-
less racist practices that made it possible to promote the creation of  many
“white man’s countr[ies].” This book also illustrates the tremendous applicability,
impressive reach, and possibilities of  Roediger’s work and ideas to scholars
working elsewhere on Germany, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and South
America, for example.
Roediger’s essay in this latest work builds on and strengthens earlier
efforts to locate the origins and historiography of  the critical study of  white-
ness—some of  which are found in Roediger’s excellent collection of  pithy essays
titled History Against Misery (2006), especially “Section Three,” which covers five
essays that “get after whiteness.”1 Some scholars will feel as if  Roediger finally
presents the history of  the critical study of  whiteness that predates his 1991
Wages. He writes at length about the importance of  Alexander Saxton’s work and
observations as “an organizer in the railroad and construction industries” in the
1930s (13). In 1997, Saxton wrote that he had “never heard of  any shop steward
on any railroad who defended black workers” (14). Like a number of  the organ-
isers and scholars about whom he writes, Roediger’s personal experiences played
a substantial role in his writings and actions over the years, as he tells us both in
the insightful and oft-cited introduction to The Wages of  Whiteness and here (17-
19), despite Roediger’s multiperspectival education, he did not initially “get it.”
He was not conscious of, as Noel Ignatin put it, “the white blindspot” (22).
Writes Roediger, 
As much as I now regard the two problems [the racism of  both the 
“employing class” and the “white worker”] as inextricably linked, the 
emphasis on the white worker’s centrality to the racial order was a hard-
won insight available in few places on the left, save those dismissing 
white workers altogether(19).
A number of  influences spurred on the thinking and writings on the
critical study of  whiteness. According to Roediger, “the impact of  African
American struggles and thought, especially in the moment of  Black Power,
shaped the critical study of  whiteness decisively” (20). Theodore Allen’s 1960s
pamphlet, “Can White Radicals be Radicalized?,” as well as the 1970s “‘civil war
in the mind’ of  some white workers as they reacted to the appeals of  the energy
and success of  Black workers’ struggles,” also played a critical role in the current
and ongoing scholarship. But it is the debt owed to W. E. B. Du Bois and his
formulation of  the “wages of  whiteness”—what Du Bois called the “‘public and
psychological wage’ afforded to poor white Southerners after the Civil War” in
Helfrich48
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 48
his classic work, Black Reconstruction [1935]—that is most significant for it shaped,
indeed “structured [The Wages of  Whiteness] multiply and even entirely” (23).
The second essay in this volume is titled, “Racist Symbolic Capital: A
Bourdieuian Approach to the Analysis of  Racism.” Author Anja Weiß, by utilis-
ing the work of  French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, investigates the “cultural
and symbolic dimensions of  social inequality” and offers suggestions for future
research. Of  all of  the essays in this volume, Weiß’s intersected the least with
Wages of  Whiteness and actually seemed out of  place. What is surprising is that
Weiß, in an essay that focuses mostly on Germany as a place for understanding
“race relations research on the basis of  a more general theory of  social inequali-
ty,” failed to consider Roediger’s excellent critique of  Loïc Wacquant and the lim-
its of  Bourdieu in two 2006 essays, as well as the fact that Bourdieu and
Wacquant ignore imperialism and colonialism—among other things—in the
essays that Weiß cites (49).2
An essay by Wulf  D. Hund, the main organiser for this volume, follows
next. The most fascinating passages in Hund’s essay focus on American Indians;
Indigenous people in Australia; and white convict labourers against Chinese gold
rush diggers in Australia. Hund writes, “Within the classist internal relations of
the settler society, the convicts [in Australia] themselves were victims of  violent
assaults and a great number of  them were humiliated and whipped. In the racist
climate of  violent land seizure.” at the heart of  all global history, “however, like
the growing number of  free wageworkers, they had the experience of  belonging
to the ‘white’ colonial society through the authorisation for them to use violence
against ‘blacks’.” As Hund argues, “The racist symbolic capital obtained through
this was no possession but a social relation” (76, 87). As Australia ended its
reliance on convict labour and turned to imported labour from India, China, and
the Pacific islands, Hund tells us, “wide sections of  the lower classes linked the
racist symbolic capital which they were allegedly entitled to with the demand for
wages of  whiteness” (75, 76). As Hund’s sources make clear, the goals in
Australia were both racist and classist and clearly displayed the “wages of  white-
ness”: the maintenance, as one Prime Minister put it, “of  the purity of  the race
and the equality […] of  its standard of  living” (79). 
Stefanie Affeldt offers the first case study of  the book. In her essay
regarding “white” labour, nation, and sugar in Australia from the early days of
Queen Victoria’s reign through the 1930s, Affeldt presents a clear argument by
looking at a massacre of  Aboriginal peoples, as well as a handful of  important
strikes. The Seaman’s Strike in the late 1870s “against the ASN [Australasian
Steam Navigation Company] was the first inter-colonial dispute for white work-
ers’ racial rights,” according to Affeldt (109). “During the first half  of  the twen-
tieth century,” Affeldt writes, “the sugar industry proved to be a model plant for
the achievements for ‘White Australia’ and white sugar became a symbol for
white consumerism acting as ‘ethnic communal whiteness’ put into practice”
Review Essay 49
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 49
(120). She notes that the racial hierarchy that placed convicts above Aboriginal
peoples in Australia culminated in a “‘highly unusual […] concern for convicts’
which led to a ‘closing of  the ranks, a solidarity on the crucial tests of  race and
skin colour’.” Indeed, her work confirms that vigilante actions against
Indigenous peoples in order to preserve and promote whiteness are a trope
globally (104). (As an aside, Affeldt could have extended her metaphor regarding
“white” sugar by including a sentence about the parallels to “white” soap and
other “pure” commodities as well as the process invented in 1812 of  “decoloriz-
ing” or “lightening” sugar by using bone char).
Jeremy Krikler utilises fascinating legal cases, statutes, and examples
that effectively display his main argument regarding the Masters and Servants
Act—nineteenth-century labour laws designed to control relations between
employers and workers in South Africa. Krikler is most interested in ferreting
out the “primacy of  politics” in apartheid South Africa, notably the pass laws
and the extreme cost of  policing pass laws, and the regular efforts to keep out or
halt “the growth of  the black population in the cities” (154, 155). By studying
twentieth-century segregationist laws, their desired outcomes, the significance of
their enactment, other projects of  white supremacy, and possibilities for future
research, Krikler raised some missing aspects regarding our understanding of
race and class in South Africa.
There is some significant crossover/overlap between the last two case
studies. Dagmar Engelken presents a fascinating study of  white responses to the
introduction of  60,000 Chinese labourers “imported” during the early years of
the twentieth century into Transvaal, South Africa, as a result of  a so-called
labour shortage arguably “engineered by the mining houses” to protect white
labour (185-186). Her essay includes one of  the few examples in the book where
whites supported non-whites, but only for trade and retail transactions, not mine
working (171). Unlike most other contributions in the collection, Engelken also
provides a greater indication of  the responses from white trade union leaders
(175). Nevertheless, Dagmar points out that “ideological consistency” among
white workers was “not a precondition for the popularity of  racist movements”
(173).
In the last case study, Elizabeth Esch draws on her years of  experience
studying the global reach of  the Ford Motor Company and its policies to raise
some significant reasons for examining and understanding Ford’s transnational
efforts and social policies through race and white supremacy in Detroit and
South Africa during the 1920s and 1930s.3 During these years, “Ford promoted
the idea of  whiteness having added value, a psychological or other kind of  wage:
contradictory, because the content of  that whiteness differed across the global
social contexts; powerful because Ford had been thought of  … as the capitalist
who equalized wages” (199-200). As Esch explains, “The Detroit of  South
Africa reflected the characteristics of  Detroit of  USA back at it in dramatic and
Helfrich50
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 50
tragic ways—via deepening rather than receding poverty, segregation, racial and
anti-union violence and, ultimately unemployment” (216). Ford, Esch tells us in
her conclusion, “was equally and simultaneously the product and producer of
racial differences and uneven development within and between nations” (216). 
Some readers will not appreciate the use of  single (› ‹) and double
arrows (» «) in place of  English quotation marks throughout. Book and journal
titles are not underlined nor italicised nor set off  from the text in footnotes and
references; commas are used in place of  colons in book titles and in sentences.
Although I became used to these quirks by the end of  the book, I had still not
mastered these changes. All four case studies in the book focus on former
British colonies, yet there is no specific reason stated for this choice. The book
lacks a desired contributor’s page. There are also a number of  editing and proof-
reading errors (“much such,” 30; a period inserted after “90s,” 31; and no pos-
session for “schools Police,” 24; “Federal” or “Federated” Housewives’
Association, 124; “Lord Milner” followed later by “Alfred Milner,” 167, 168;
missing words, 178; et cetera), as well as places where the same quotation is awk-
wardly repeated verbatim and without justification on a subsequent page (117,
118). These mistakes, as well as space and stylistic decisions, do not detract from
the book, however.
Although I liked this collection overall, especially because of  the logical
consistency of  the entire “Studies” section in which I was able to consider and
evaluate various approaches to “wages of  whiteness” globally, my one major crit-
icism is that the voices of  African American, Aboriginal, Chinese, and rank-and-
file workers are relatively silent throughout. With the exception of  Roediger’s
essay and a few comments from Du Bois, we never learn what racialised workers
have to say about white supremacist thought processes, as well as governmental
and employment policies. Instead, readers hear the voices and ideas of  white
union leadership, political leaders, and owners of  sugar plantations, mines, and
automobile plants. What was also odd to me is that the authors in Wages of
Whiteness and Racist Symbolic Capital failed to cite any of  Roediger’s studies and
writings, aside from The Wages of  Whiteness.
There are still so many unanswered questions regarding the critical
study of  whiteness. For example, are there other places, aside from former
British colonies, where Roediger’s theories can be furthered in creative ways?
Soon after the Organization of  American Historians’ 2011 conference offered a
topical session titled, “State of  the Field: Revisiting Whiteness Twenty Years
after The Wages of  Whiteness,” historian Jennifer Guglielmo wondered if  it was
possible to “reflect on the way Dave’s work entered a conversation about race
and whiteness that was initiated and sustained by people of  colour (not only Du
Bois, Baldwin, and Morrison but also bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldua, Cherrie
Moraga, and other feminists of  colour)”? Indeed, few references in Wages of
Whiteness & Racist Symbolic Capital were made to gender as an area of  investiga-
Review Essay 51
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 51
tion (30). Guglielmo asked where is this field of  inquiry these days?4 Was it just a
fad in academia, as many critics have argued, or has it had the ability to last?
What areas—perhaps gender and women’s history—are still underexplored
“blind spots” in the literature? Where is the critical study of  whiteness now?
This collection of  essays is just a beginning of  efforts to answer these questions,
but in a transnational way.
NOTES
1 David Roediger, History Against Misery (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing
Company, 2006), 133-180.
2 See David Roediger, “A Reply to Eric Kaufmann,” Ethnicities, vol. 6, no. 2 (June
2006), 254-262, http://www.sneps.net/OO/images/REPLY%20TO%20KAUF-
MANN%20-%20ROEDIGER.pdf, accessed 8 June 2013; David Roediger, “The
Retreat from Race and Class,” Monthly Review, vol. 58, issue 03 (July-August
2006). See also, Michael Hanchard, “Acts of  Misrecognition: Transnational Black
Politics, Anti-imperialism and the Enthocentrisms of  Pierre Bourdieu and Loïc
Wacquant,” Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 20, no. 4 (2003), 5-29; Mark Alan
Healey, “Powers of  Misrecognition: Bourdieu and Wacquant on Race in Brazil,”
Nepantla: Views from the South, vol. 4, issue 2 (2003), 391-402.
3 See Elizabeth Esch, “‘Shades of  Tarzan!’: Ford on the Amazon,” Cabinet
Magazine, issue 7 (Summer 2002) http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/
7/shadesoftarzan.php; Elizabeth Esch, “Fordtown: Managing Race and Nation
in the American Empire, 1925-1945” (PhD dissertation, New York University,
2004).
4 Jennifer Guglielmo to author, personal communication, 2011.
Helfrich52
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 52


Creating a “white man’s country” in Australia, South Africa, & the US

Miville, Serge

Gene Allen, Making National News. A History of  Canadian Press (Toronto:
University of  Toronto Press, 2013). 443 pp. $36.95 Paperback.
For historians, newspapers have long played an important supporting role in
their studies. They cover day-to-day events, and can give researchers an idea of
the pulse of  their readers. Too few are those who have done historical studies of
the institution of  media and its business. Gene Allen quite favourably fills this
void with his history of  the Canadian Press. 
The readers should beware, however, as this book is not a history of
print media in Canada as the name could suggest, but rather of  the non-profit
cooperative Canadian Press, or CP, as it is commonly known in journalistic cir-
cles. Founded in 1917, CP developed into a quasi-monopolistic news producing
behemoth at the service of  its members. It contributed, through “banal national-
ism” and the sheer volume of  its readership to the development of  Canadian
identity. Based on the CP papers, various interviews with former journalists as
well as with numerous clippings of  its member newspapers, Allen has produced
an agreeable piece of  research which, one would hope, will persuade others to
follow in his footsteps in order to better understand print and broadcast media
in Canada.
Although this study deals with the creation of  a national network of
news, the material and technological conditions within which the CP evolved are
quite present in the unfolding of  his narrative. Indeed, for much of  the studied
period (1917-1970), the CP is wholly dependent on leased telegraphic lines,
which, at great cost, permitted it to send news stories back and forth to its mem-
bers throughout the country. Further explored is the rather ham-fisted way in
which the organisation dealt with a union drive by the American Newspaper
Guild, as well as it’s almost dogmatic underpaying of  its staffers. 
In fact, CP is shown to constantly struggle with its noble desire to
bring about a Canadian spin on news and its (albeit self-imposed) cost limita-
tions, often resorting to draconian cost-cutting measures to keep a thin bottom
line. The ability to pay (or the willingness to) often trumps the ambition of  this
organisation. Indeed, composed mainly of  competing newspapers (Toronto
being a remarkably heated newsprint market), CP is often at odds with its own
interests. For example, admitting new members in an established market brings
about an important hurdle to the newcomer in the form of  prohibitive entry
fees. At times, CP appears as a complex, multi-layered game of  chess in which
some players cannot even control their pawns. 
The narrative can appear at times to be cumbersome. The author often
privileged details of  the CP over analysis of  news services in the development of
print and broadcast media. It is abundantly clear to this reviewer that Allen is
more than capable of  astute and intelligible analysis. His introduction demon-
strates that we are in capable theoretical hands, and his last chapter demonstrates
Left History 18.280
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:07 PM  Page 80
his willingness to dirty these same hands with empirical data. For whatever rea-
son, it was judged more agreeable to have a narrative that is more inclined
towards the institutional history of  CP with subtle analysis here and there.
Indeed, the author often attempts to do too much, which is the principle trap
one falls into when working on a long-time fallow field. This translates into
unnecessary detail and a series of  lengthy paragraphs that can at times feel rather
oppressive and may lead certain readers gasping for air. 
The temptation to delve into the nuts and bolts of  certain develop-
ments at CP (photo services is but a banal example) does distract to the principle
issue at hand. This can lead to some problems with the coherence of  the text.
One particular section which leads in with a bite-sized paragraph on the creation
of  the French-language services ends up discussing at length another issues alto-
gether, leaving the reader perplexed as to the structure of  the text. 
Further, the treatment of  French Canada  something this reviewer
commends, as many historians would rather not bother with, leaves to be
desired. Does CP have the same impact with its “banal nationalism” in French
Canada? The author states, for example, that:
Important as the CBC has been as a cultural entity in Canada, one
could argue that CP was more influential: CBC never accounted
for more than a fraction of  all radio stations, whereas virtually
every daily newspaper (and most broadcast stations) in Canada
relied on CP’s service. It was the chief  vehicle of  “mediated pub-
licness” in Canada for most of  the twentieth century, providing a
common base of  information across the country (and a shared
correction à la [Benedict] Anderson to all the others who were fol-
lowing the same stories) (16).
With the struggles of  CP in French Canada and the importance of  Agence France-
Presse in that market, one wonders if  this statement would benefit from nuance
in relation to the French-language newspapers and, indeed, in relation to Radio-
Canada. 
Further questions have come to the reviewers mind relating to French
Canada. What leadership role did the French newspapers take in the organisa-
tion, if  any? The author clearly demonstrates the dissatisfaction of  French-lan-
guage newspapers with CP as well as the important efforts the organisation
undertakes to compensate for this. However, one gets the impression that the
French-language members simply grumbled when they paid their yearly dues.
Finally, his final chapter on the use of  CP material in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald
could have profited from a comparative analysis with a French-language newspa-
per like Le Droit. 
Allen, having accumulated a remarkable twenty years worth of  experi-
ence in the journalistic field shows to be quite beneficial to readers who look up
to him to expose a complete and rigorous study of  CP’s history. The author
Book Reviews 81
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:07 PM  Page 81


Gene Allen, Making National News. A History of Canadian Press (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013).

Clancy, Devin

Edward J. Hedican, Ipperwash: The Tragi c Fai lur e o f  Canada’s  Abor igina l
Pol icy  (Toronto: University of  Toronto Press, 2013). 320 pp. $32.95
Softcover. 
In Ipperwash: The Tragic Failure of  Canada’s Aboriginal Policy, Edward J. Hedican
laments the current status of  Canadian-First Nations relations. While the title
suggests a focus on the Chippewa reclamation of  Ipperwash Provincial Park in
1995, the book also spans a wide range of  historical land claims disputes and
provides an introductory overview to Canadian Aboriginal policy. The central
argument of  Ipperwash is that Canada’s Aboriginal policy is fundamentally flawed.
This is evident in the 1995 fatal shooting of  Indigenous protestor Dudley
George by the OPP at Ipperwash but it is also endemic in Canadian policy more
generally. As such the guiding questions throughout the study are: how did the
policy get this way? And, what can be done?(3)
Hedican begins much of  his overview of  Aboriginal policy with
European contact in North America. While this is understandable, as the focus is
on Eurocentric policy, one would benefit from a history that does not so strong-
ly center Europeans and settler Canadians. For instance, while Hedican skillfully
navigates European-First Nations interactions through the Royal Proclamation
of  1763, the numbered treaties and the Indian Act, there is very little mention of
say the Kaswentha or Two Row Wampum forged between the Haudenosaunee
people and Dutch settlers in 1613 and later reaffirmed by the British. While this
is one specific example rooted in Haudenosaunee context, it is nonetheless
important to emphasize for when Hedican later discusses the Caledonia reclama-
tion in 2006, its absence in the discussion is striking. As well, by continually
overemphasizing European treaties and policy as the singular point of  analysis
Hedican risks reproducing a liberal history of  Turtle Island that, while explicitly
intended to provide context for Indigenous resistance, nonetheless eschews a
decolonizing framework that would necessarily center Indigenous perspectives.
With this in mind however, Hedican does deliver a strong overview of
past and current Canadian policy. Specific focus is paid to the 1996 Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP), the creation of  Nunavut in 1999,
Canada’s vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of  Indigenous Peoples,
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology for the residential school system, and
the development of  the federal Urban Aboriginal Strategy in 1997. As well, the
first half  of  Ipperwash confidently reviews the relevant judicial history of  First
Nations land rights in the Canadian courts in a highly accessible and concise
manner. This sets the stage for his later discussion on the politics of  Indigenous
resistance and confrontation with the Canadian state.
Left History100
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 100
As the book progresses Hedican’s own voice begins to shine through in
his analysis of  Indigenous resistance more generally, and the Ipperwash Inquiry
in particular. Beginning with a common sense notion that settler Canadians are
generally uninformed about and often confused by the regularity of  Indigenous
protest, blockades and land reclamations, Hedican investigates some of  these
flashpoint events. One of  his most consistent findings is that, contrary to sensa-
tionalist representations that emphasize the seemingly capricious nature of  con-
flicts between Indigenous protestors and police, these moments are preceded
and influenced by long histories of  Indigenous peoples’ struggle against the
Canadian state, its historical dispossessions and contemporary policies. As well,
Hedican maintains a consistent critique of  Canada’s land claims policy through-
out the book and how its many administrative and political failings tend to exac-
erbate unequal and oppressive relations between the Canadian government and
Indigenous peoples. Beginning in 1974 through to 2009, Hedican provides a
comparative analysis of  ten well-known instances of  Indigenous resistance
including Oka, Gustafsen Lake, Burnt Church, Caledonia and Grassy Narrows.
By his own admission this is not intended to be an exhaustive or necessarily in
depth account of  Indigenous resistance. Rather, Hedican uses these brief
vignettes in order to draw out some of  their general similarities when looking at
the broader picture of  Canada-First Nations conflict. Argued with precision,
Hedican concludes that, “in every case reviewed here, it has not been the use of
force that eventually led to a resolution of  conflict. On the contrary, negotiation
and mediation have shown the best results.”(140)
Following these broad overviews that historically situate Canadian
Aboriginal policy Hedican begins his in depth analysis of  Ipperwash and the
inquiry. Here Hedican is strongest in his historical account of  colonial disposses-
sion of  the Wiiwkwedong (Kettle Point) and Aashoodenong (Stony Point) First
Nations, as well as in his analysis of  Canada’s implication in the settler colonial
project. As such, Hedican provides a overview of  the events of  Ipperwash, how
it was mismanaged by Mike Harris’ Provincial Government as well as how these
events were themselves influenced by and implicated in individual and institu-
tional forms of  contemporary racism. For Hedican, the death of  Indigenous
protestor Dudley George at the hands of  the OPP should not be understood as
a singular discriminatory event, rather as an outgrowth of  the more general ‘trag-
ic failure of  Canada’s Aboriginal Policy.’ Finally, as a remedy Hedican normative-
ly encourages the Canadian State to adopt some of  the recommendations of  the
Ipperwash Inquiry namely better communication between the police and protes-
tors facilitated by negotiators during reclamations, and the establishment of  an
impartial body dedicated to resolving treaty claims in Ontario. While decidedly
optimistic, Hedican suggests that it is too early to determine whether the recom-
mendations of  the Ipperwash Inquiry will be adequately taken up and is con-
cerned the Inquiry will be forgotten.
Book Review 101
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 101


Edward J. Hedican, Ipperwash: The Tragic Failure of Canada’s Aboriginal Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013).

Murphy, Andrew

Ella Myers. World ly  Ethics :  Democrat ic  Pol i t i cs  and Care for  the Wor ld.
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013). 232 pp. $26.05
Softcover.
It is easy to be discouraged when casting an eye over the contemporary
American political scene. A dysfunctional political system seems either complicit
in, or powerless to address, rising levels of  economic inequality. Attempts to
articulate a shared collective identity, to emphasize the ties that bind democratic
citizens to each other, founder in the face of  neoliberal celebrations of  market
mentality and individualistic morality, which take issue with the very idea of  col-
lective responsibility toward the less fortunate. Widespread citizen apathy creates
a political vacuum that is filled by the most dogmatic, shrill, and polarized (and
polarizing) political voices. Against this backdrop, and in response to the “ethical
turn” in recent democratic theory, Ella Myers offers a pithy and persuasive case
for a “worldly ethics,” one based on “inciting citizens’ collective care for worldly
things.”(11) Worldly Ethics is a deeply satisfying book, displaying the twin virtues
of  clarity and charity. 
First, clarity: Myers’ exposition of  key terms is precise and thorough
from start to finish, and she ably guides the reader from Michel Foucault’s ethics
of  the self  to Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of  the Other to her own ethics of  care
for worldly things. The ethic of  self-care proposed by such thinkers as Foucault
and William Connolly, she argues, may offer individuals enhanced opportunities
for self-creation and ethical cultivation, but it seems only tenuously connected to
democratic politics. Such a focus on the self  seems as likely to produce narcissis-
tic solipsism as democratic engagement, and those celebrating it “exaggerate[e]
the affinities between building a self  and building a world.”(50) An initially more
promising option presents itself  in the work of  Levinas, for whom one’s rela-
tionship with the Other places “the Other rather than the self  at the center of
concern.”(61) Here again, though, and despite the further development of
Levinas’s insights by Simon Critchley and Judith Butler, Myers argues that “a real
gap separates charitable ethics from associative democratic practice.”(83)
“Care for the world,” Myers’s own contribution to the search for a
democratic ethos, turns out to be more complex than it sounds, and understand-
ing each of  its constituent terms is crucial. Of  course “care ethics” has already
produced a considerable literature, which Myers builds on while differentiating
her own approach from noted theorists like Joan Tronto. And the object of
democratic care, for Myers – the “world” – requires her to navigates her way
through Hannah Arendt’s complex formulation of  the social and political. This
“world” is a complex entity. On the one hand, the world represents a shared
home for human beings and other forms of  life, which leads Myers to a broad
endorsement of  a democratically-infused capabilities approach a la Amartya Sen.
Book Review 109
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 109
On the other hand, it serves as an intermediary between humans, constituted by
exchange, debate, and collaboration, which leads her to call for an “expansion of
the power of  ordinary citizens to participate in their own government through
multiple and accessible sites for the exchange of  opinions and decision mak-
ing.”(125) Ultimately, Myers acknowledges, citizens do not encounter the world
in toto, but rather through common projects around contested “worldly things”:
“the objects of  associative democratic action.”(93) An epilogue offers a few
examples of  promising movements seeking to engage democratic publics around
issues of  common concern, such as No More Deaths, Iraq Body Count, and
Right to the City efforts.
Second, charity: Worldly Ethics is a model of  interpretive charity. Myers
is scrupulously fair to those whose views she criticizes; there are no low blows,
no straw figures, no reductios. At all points in the book’s exposition and critique,
Myers goes out of  her way to provide clear accounts of  the arguments’ main
features, what they have to offer, and the ways in which they fall short of  the
sort of  robust collective democratic ethos she is attempting to articulate. If  all
critical exchanges in political theory were conducted in the way that Myers
engages her interlocutors, our debates would shed much less heat and much
more light. 
It is a virtue of  this sort of  book that it leaves the reader wanting more.
Worldly Ethics seems to begin in medias res: as someone who works primarily in the
history of  political thought, I found myself  wondering how Myers might
account for how we have gotten into the mess we are in. The book’s introducto-
ry chapter contains a few paragraphs about the history of  democratic theory,
and the complex relationship between the classical, republican, and liberal tradi-
tions and the idea of  virtue, but is strangely silent on the theoretical and/or
practical underpinnings of  our contemporary situation. Surely the quandary in
which so many advanced democracies find themselves did not arise overnight,
and perhaps the framework of  care for the world could elucidate the pathways
that led us to our current situation. 
Similarly, Myers’s accounts of  movements that exhibit care for the
world, from Danish resistance to the Nazis during World War II (106) through
Iraq Body Count or the Minnesota-based Our Water Commons in our own time
(147-8, 150), are tantalizing but highly abbreviated. The goals of  the more con-
temporary movements – to oppose the dehumanization of  war or the privatiza-
tion of  such a fundamental human need as clean water – are fairly clear, but
Myers’s presentation of  them allows for very little sense of  how their members
go about engaging with those on the other side of  the issues (or with govern-
mental or regulatory bodies at the local, state, or federal level), or what sorts of
challenges they face in attempting to bring their concerns before broader publics.
Left History110
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 110


Ella Myers. Worldly Ethics: Democratic Politics and Care for the World. (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013

Bernardo, Joseph

67
© Left History 
18.2 (Fall/Winter 2015)
BOOK REVIEWS
Eric Avila, The Folklore of  the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City
(Minneapolis: University of  Minnesota Press, 2014). 248 pp. $24.95
Paperback.
In The Folklore of  the Freeway, Eric Avila explores the rather invisible cultural his-
tory of  federal highway programs and its impact on cities during the mid-to-late
twentieth century. Centering race in his examination, Avila argues that communi-
ties of  colour, who were disproportionately affected by the construction of  free-
ways during the 1950s through the 1970s, waged their own “freeway revolts”
against the “modern city” through creative expression. Lacking the political and
economic resources of  their largely white and more affluent counterparts whose
well documented battles against highway planners and elected officials stopped
many freeway projects from coming into fruition, urban Latino and African
Americans, Avila suggests, used art, literature, music, festivals, and other cultural
forms to voice their opposition to freeways and preserve the history of  the
neighbourhoods that lay beneath or within the slabs of  heavy concrete. By ele-
vating culture, or “folklore,” as a primary lens of  analysis, Avila convincingly
demonstrates that many people of  colour in cities throughout the United States
were well cognizant and resistant to the modernist (and racist) logics of
“progress” laced in urban planning policy of  the time despite the lack of  “suc-
cess” in stopping freeway projects.
Throughout The Folklore of  the Freeway, Avila uses traditional archival
materials as well as visual and discourse analysis, weaving together histories,
anecdotes, and artistic works into a narrative of  racial disparity and resistance.
After a brief  historical and cultural contextual overview of  freeway construction
in the United States beginning with the 1956 Federal Highway Act, subsequent
chapters explore the dichotomous points of  view on freeways between whites
and non-whites based on various themes: gender, historical memory, and visual
art. Avila juxtaposes white communities’ reactions, strategies, and viewpoints
with the less documented and somewhat different approaches of  people of
colour whose neighbourhods were the main targets of  freeway construction.
Artwork and critiqued freeways, particularly by artists and organisers such as the
muralist Judith Baca and writer Helena Maria Viramontes, were vivid demonstra-
tions of  the communities’ frustration with the new infrastructure imposed on
their neighbourhoods. Likewise, Avila conveys that whites’ employment of  “nos-
talgia” to save certain historic neighbourhoods from freeways had very different
receptions and outcomes than black and brown places of  historical significance.
Whitewashed depictions of  certain “historic” neighborhoods such as New
Orleans’ French Quarter, for example, inevitably saved those places from the
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:07 PM  Page 67
wrecking ball as opposed to African American and Latino neighbourhoods like
St. Paul’s Rondo-St. Anthony neighborhood or Miami’s Overtown. Nevertheless,
the inevitable reality of  freeways in many minority neighbourhoods led many
cultural workers and activists to creatively adapt to their obstructive environs.
Avila points to Chicano Park in San Diego and the jazz parades of  Treme in
New Orleans as inspiring examples of  urban communities of  colour “taking
back” the freeway.
Overall, The Folklore of  the Freeway is a quick read, particularly for those
astute in urban history and urban planning scholarship as well as to scholars of
ethnic studies. Avila’s strength and greatest contribution with this work is com-
plicating the often-told story of  the “freeway revolt” led by the largely white
middle class through his reading of  cultural resistance from the communities
that were most affected by modern infrastructure. In many of  his chapters, Avila
bifurcates each community’s treatment of  the freeways, emphasising the deep
chasm between those who were successful at evading the coming of  the freeway
and those who were not. For example, his chapter on white and Latino artists’
divergent perspectives on freeways in their art richly demonstrates the dissimilari-
ty and inequality between the two communities in Los Angeles.
Yet, as a whole, activist and “artivist” voices of  opposition from disen-
franchised communities in this work are fairly few. Moreover, many artists whom
Avila demonstrates as exemplars of  community resistance, such as Carlos
Almaraz, come from a particular politicized generation of  the 1960s and 1970s.
Perhaps the paucity of  these voices is largely due to the lack of  archival sources,
but one would be curious of  the viewpoints of  those who one East L.A. activist
deemed as “apathetic” because they “accepted it [freeways] because the govern-
ment ordered it” (85). Perhaps some who were displaced viewed the construc-
tion of  the modern city as an ironic opportunity to “suburbanize” through the
desegregation of  whiter, more affluent neighbourhoods. The large numbers of
Latinos moving to the Southeast cities of  the LA County and African Americans
to the Crenshaw area and Inglewood during this same period can perhaps serve
as possible examples of  a different mindset of  those communities targeted for
freeway expansion.1 In my own research on Filipinos in Los Angeles, some resi-
dents hoped for city and state officials to seize their homes during the age of
urban renewal for it meant opportunity to obtain relocation fees and move to a
better, more suburban, neighbourhood.2 Paying more attention to perspective, of
course, is not aimed to justify or diminish the heinous destruction neighbour-
hoods of  colour from urban infrastructure projects. On the contrary, capturing
these voices would further highlight the complex and nuanced power of  racial
capitalism and white supremacy ingrained in urban place.
On another note, with the exception of  the concluding chapter, which
discussed Hawaii’s struggles with their interstate freeway, and a short mention of
Boston’s Chinatown, The Folklore of  the Freeway lacks much attention towards
Left History 18.268
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:07 PM  Page 68


Eric Avila, The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014).

 ,  

LEFT HISTORY
An Interdisciplinary Journal of  Historical Inquiry and Debate
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 1
An Interdisciplinary Journal of  Historical Inquiry and Debate
Editors
Jennifer Stephen
Mathieu Brûlé
Erin Dolmage
Mary Franks
Abril Liberatori
Carly Simpson
Book Review Editor
Sara Howdle
Assistant Book Review Editor
Sara Farhan
Editorial Board
Daniel Bender
Patrick J. Connor
Karen Dubinsky
Geoff Eley
Magda Fahrni
Rick Halpern
Jeet Heer
Craig Heron
James P. Hull
Franca Iacovetta
Linda Kealey
Molly Ladd-Taylor
Bryan D. Palmer
William A. Pelz
Vijay Prashad
Geoffrey Reaume
David Roediger
Founders, Left History Press
Adam Givertz
Marcus Klee
Alison Forrest 
Left History
Department of History, York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3
lefthist@yorku.ca
www.yorku.ca/lefthist
www.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/lh
@lefthistory
LEFT HISTORY
ISSN 1192-1927  Copyright 2014 Left History
Left History accepts manuscripts elec-
tronically through email and as hard
copies through standard mail (although
articles received electronically are pre-
ferred). Please format submissions in
accordance with the Left History style
guide, available on our web page.
Left History is indexed in America:
History and Life, Historical Abstracts,
Sociological Abstracts,and the
Alternative Press Index. Full text editions
of Left History are available online
thanks to the York University Library’s
Open Journal Systems project. All cur-
rent print subscribers will have access to
the online edition when they register their
email address with the journal.
Subscriptions are $20 per year for indi-
viduals, $15 per year for students, and
$60 per year for institutions. Canadian
orders please pay in Canadian dollars,
all others in US dollars. For additional
information on subscriptions please visit
our website.
For their funding and support, Left
History thanks the Faculty of Graduate
Studies, the Graduate Students’
Association, the Vice President
Research and Administration, and the
Department of History at York University.
Left History is printed by York Printing
Services in Toronto, Ontario. 
Left History, its editors, editorial board,
and publisher disclaim responsibility and
liability for statements, either of fact or
opinion, made by contributors.
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 2
VOLUME 18, NUMBER 1, Spring/ Summer 2014
CONTENTS
5 About the Contributors
7 Editorial Note
ARTICLES
9 “Women Are Truly Wonderful in their Ingenuity”: Radical Housewives
and Consumer Protest During the Cold War Era
Brian Thorn
39 Third Camp Politics: An Interview with Phyllis and Julius Jacobson
Kent Worcester
61 Evil in the Subtext: Reading Eichmann in Jerusalem as a Critique of
Capitalism
Milen Jissov
REVIEW ESSAY
87 "On the Possibility of  Building Castles in the Air” (a review essay of  
Eric Hazan and Kamo, Premières measures révolutionnaires)
Alban Bargain
BOOK REVIEWS
93 Jessica Stites Mor, Transition Cinema: Political filmmaking and the 
Argentine left since 1968 (Pittsburgh: University of  Pittsburgh Press, 
2012).
Marc Becker
95 Eric R. Smith, American Relief  Aid and the Spanish Civil War
(Columbia: University of  Missouri Press, 2013).
Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 3
97 Nelson Lichtenstein, A Contest of  Ideas: Capital, Politics, and Labor
(Champaign: University of  Illinois Press, 2013).
Howard Brick
100 Edward J. Hedican, Ipperwash: The Tragic Failure of  Canada’s 
Aboriginal Policy (Toronto: University of  Toronto Press, 2013).
Devin Clancy
102 Paulette Regan, Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential 
Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada. (Vancouver: 
UBC Press, 2010).
Karl Gardner
105 Margaret Randall, Che on My Mind (Norman: Duke University Press, 
2013).
Budd L Hall
106 John Lukacs, A Short History of  the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: 
Belknap Press, 2013).
Henry Heller
109 Ella Myers. Worldly Ethics: Democratic Politics and Care for the World.
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013).
Andrew Murphy
111 Michel S. Beaulieu, Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism, and 
Politics, 1900-1935 (Vancouver: University of  British Columbia Press, 
2011).
Saku Pinta
113 Samuel Kalman and Sean Kennedy, eds., The French Right between the 
Wars: Political and Intellectual Movements from Conservatism to Fascism.
(New York: Berghahn Books, 2014).
Valarie Deacon
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 4
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
Brian Thorn is a Sessional Instructor in the History and Canadian Studies
Departments at Trent University.
Kent Worcester teaches political theory at Marymount Manhattan College. He is
the author or coeditor of  eight books, including, C.L.R. James: A Political
Biography (1996); A Comics Studies Reader (2009); and The Superhero Reader (2013).
He first met Phyllis and Julius Jacobson in the late 1980s and served on the edi-
torial board of  New Politics from 1993-2007. 
Milen Jissov is an Assistant Professor in modern European history and an
Associate Director of  the General Education Office at the BNU-HKBU United
International College, in Zhuhai, China. He completed his Ph.D. at Queen’s
University, in Canada, in 2009, specialising in modern European intellectual and
cultural history. His research interests include: the work of  Hannah Arendt, the
Frankfurt School of  social theory, explanations of  anti-Semitism formulated by
modern European intellectuals, the Holocaust, the history of  Modernism.  
Alban Bargain-Villéger is presently employed as a contract faculty member at
York University. His academic interests include the study of  communist, social-
ist, and anarchist ideologies, parties and movements, and, more recently, the con-
cept of  micro-insularity. His current research project involves a comparative
study of  Arran, Borkum, and Groix, three small islands off  the coasts of
Scotland, Germany, and France, from 1848 to 1940.
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 5
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 6


About the Contributors

EDITORIAL NOTE
The editorial staff  at Left History have complied this twentieth anniver-
sary edition as a way of  celebrating and highlighting the themes echoed in this
journal’s previous issues. This milestone issue emphasises the broad analytical
space that the journal’s founding editors established, and their successors upheld.
Marxist, postmodern/ poststructural, and feminist theories resonate throughout
the pages of  our issues. Colonial and postcolonial politics, race, labour, resist-
ance, class, and gender have been a few of  the frameworks highlighted in Left
History. We are pleased to bring you a volume that continues and expands on the
quality of  our previous issues. The evolution of  Left History has often paralleled
the “institutional and discursive closure” of  current events resonating within and
without academia.1 Not only does this special anniversary issue come at a time
when academia and activism find themselves adjusting along leftist political dis-
course, but also during a time of  transition set by the limitations academics face
as they attempt to align their scholarship along social movements. 
We celebrate this current piece by republishing Left History’s original
manifesto as a way to reflect on the evolution and direction of  the journal. Such
reflection allows us to acknowledge the generations of  contributors who have
responded to great and cumulative changes within the craft of  history and other
disciplines on the study of  history; its concepts and methodologies. As academ-
ics continue to ponder the questions which fuelled the inception of  this journal,
Left History’s Manifesto, “‘anything but an eternal truth’: Representing Left
Histories” has never been more relevant and immeasurable to the expansion of
our knowledge of  the past. How can academics maintain “their interconnection
with emancipatory social movements” while resisting “the universalizing notion
of  the ‘institutional and discursive closure’ of  the academy?”2
What has been done for the study of  history by this journal since its
pioneering days? Pamela Tudge’s article looks at the last twenty years of Left
History, engaging with our varied issues. She looks at how our numerous contrib-
utors elucidated on the discipline of  history as it continues to involve itself  in
the public acting as the link between inquiries and current events. In our
Fall/Winter 2004 issue our editors contemplated the burdens of  writing, con-
cluding the importance of  “the erasure of  the presence of  the historian [in order
to] provide the basis for professional community, and further, a professional dis-
cipline of  history.”3 Our Spring/Summer 2008 issue emphasises the obligations
our profession must uphold in order to align leftist politics with pressing issues,
such as the environment. Left History’s collaboration with the Network in
Canadian History and Environments/ Nouvelle initiative canadienne en histoire de l’en-
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 7
vironment (NiCHE) emphasised the importance of  interdisciplinary collaboration
in order to study nature and humans of  our past.4 The Spring/ Summer 2010
issue came at a time of  the G8 and G20 summits when Toronto’s city-centre
transformed into a police zone. Our then editors reflected on the 21st century
activism which hosted “...more than a hundred self-described anarchists” who
ran in stark oppositions to Canada’s self-proclaimed ‘peace-keeping’ status.5
While Tudge’s article looks back, Roopika Risam’s “Revising History
and Re-Authorising the Left in Postcolonial Digital Archives” harbours the
future of  the abovementioned struggles our profession faces. Risam considers
the complexities embedded within the archival sources and the politics that clas-
sify, and declassify particular colonial records, including digital history. Our con-
tributor asserts that the classification of  sensitive records reemphasise 21st cen-
tury imperialism.
This is also noted by our first contributor’s review essay “Métis
Identity: Problems and Possibilities,” as Jennifer Hayter contends that left-leaning
historians have an obligation in analysing and assessing identity politics through
race and colonial lenses. Her piece highlights notions of  identity politics with
Canada’s Métis as she reviews the recent publications of  Christopher Adams, et
al., Métis in Canada: History, Identity, Law & Politics as well as Chris Andersen’s
“Métis”: Race, Recognition, and the Struggle for Indigenous Peoplehood. 
Joel T. Helfrich, reflects on the twentieth anniversary of  David
Rodiger’s The Wages of  Whiteness with a review essay of  Hund, Krikler, and
Roediger’s compilation of  essays titled Wages of  Whiteness & Racist Symbolic
Capital. Helfrich’s piece analyses how politics and labour unions navigate their
positions globally and introspectively within racial dichotomies. He highlights the
approaches attempted in the edited volume - eventually showcasing a void left
within the critical study of  whiteness. This critical review of  the institutionalisa-
tion of  race within the labour sector ultimately concludes that The Wages of
Whiteness is an effort to answer some of  the complicated questions embedded in
the globalisation of  institutionalised racial politics.
Finally, a special thank you to this journal’s past contributors for build-
ing Left History and maintaining its excellent standards for establishing a space
where Marxist, postmodern/poststructuralist, feminist, and racial histories were
assessed, and critiqued. Left History would like to thank Dr. Jennifer Stephen, for
her work as an Editor for the past six years. Dr. Stephen’s guidance and expert-
ise, specifically in the field of  Labour History in Canada have greatly benefited
this journal. Left History would like to introduce and welcome Dr. Boyd D.
Cothran as the journal’s new Editor in Chief. Dr. Cothran’s experiences and
expertise in US Indigenous and cultural history has already proven invaluable to
the journal’s upcoming issues. 
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 8
This special edition was compiled during the labour strike of  York
University’s and University of  Toronto’s contract faculty and Teaching Assistants
this past spring. Keeping in true Left History fashion, this journal stood in solidar-
ity with the strike and delayed publication. Our profession continues to reflect
on academia’s position within and in relation to activism.
NOTES
1 Michael Bliss, “Privatizing the Mind: The Sundering of  Canadian History, the
Sundering of  Canada,” Journal of  Canadian Studies 26 (Winter 1991-92): 9, 15, 11.
2 Alison C. Forrest, A.M. Givertz and Marcus Klee, “’Anything but an Eternal
Truth’: Representing Left Histories,” Left History 1 (Fall/ Winter 1993-94): 5.
3 Left History 10.1 (Fall/Winter, 2004): 9.
Left History 13.1 (Spring/Summer, 2008). 
Left History 14.2 (Spring/Summer, 2010).
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 9
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:06 PM  Page 10


Editorial Note

EDITORIAL NOTE
As explorers of  the past, historians gather collections of  evidence and employ
diverse theoretical approaches to construct a possible narrative of  the past.
Evidence found in the archives often reflect contemporary ideas of  gender, race,
and class dynamics and as a result, history has favoured prominent white men as
the protagonists of  change over time. Women’s history, as a field, gained traction
and a presence in North American universities as a result of  the women’s
activism in the post World War II period. Since then, scholars debate the
approaches and challenges to unearthing the roles and experiences of  women in
history. 
Authors in this issue of  Left History complicate models of  women’s
history that simply “add women and stir.” Instead, their work unfolds narratives
and analyses the intellectual, economic, and community history that is both femi-
nist and complex in breadth. As Joan Scott argued in her groundbreaking work,
gender is a “constitutive element of  social relationships…and a primary way of
signifying relationships of  power.”1 Scott’s definition of  gender is particularly
useful lens to frame these articles since they all feature working or middle class
women of  European descent. 
Brian Thorn’s “‘Women Are Truly Wonderful in their Ingenuity’:
Radical Housewives and Consumer Protest During the Cold War Era,” looks at
the ways in which women in the Communist Party of  Canada (CPC) and the Co-
operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) organized and participated in con-
sumer protests and led post-war debates over the price of  essential goods.
Featured prominently in Thorn’s argument is Mildred MacLeod, a social democ-
rat and writer for the CCF News. MacLeod situated women as Canada’s maternal
leaders at the centre of  post-war debates on inflation and the deregulation of
food prices. With this position, MacLeod sought to empower women and
encourage them to engage in public protest to reduce food prices. This paper
not only speaks to the intersection of  feminist political economy and post-war
social history in Canada, but it also deconstructs the layers of  “maternal” femi-
nism in relation to histories of  women’s activism and consumption in post-war
Canada. 
Kent Worchester’s “Third Camp Politics: An Interview with Phyllis and
Julius Jacobson” is a micro-history of  left wing intellectualism and community
organizing in New York City from the mid-1930s. Working during the Great
Depression, and being critical of  both the U.S.S.R. and American style
Democratic Liberalism, the Jacobsons developed an anti-authoritarian brand of
Marxist ideology. In addition to publishing books, founding and editing New
Politics in the 1960s, the Jacobsons remained committed to dispensing informa-
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 7
tion and encouraging public discussions by writing blogs and managing an
Internet presence to express their socio-political views. The interview shares the
personal reflections of  Phyllis and Julius Jacobson and the influence of  their
upbringings on their community work. Worchester’s analysis highlights the inter-
sections of  class, ethnicity, gender, and politics.
Milen Jissov’s “Evil in the Subtext” and Alban Bargain’s review essay of
Premières mesures révolutionnaires, complicate existing philosophical and intellectual
debates surrounding socialism and capitalism in the twentieth century world.
While Bargain highlights the critical perspective of  the French radical Left and
outlines the anti-authoritarian form of  socialism advocated by authors Eric
Hazan and Kamo, Jissov rethinks Hannah Arendt’s analysis of  the Eichmann
trial and reframes her final conclusion as an unintentional critique of  capitalism. 
Though histories have been dominated by “great white men narrative,”
these authors explore the participation of  women in public debates in economic,
political, and philosophical fields. As the field of  women’s history continues to
develop, we observe the changes to scholarship. As historians engage with meth-
ods and theories from women and gender studies, political science, anthropolo-
gy, Indigenous studies and sociology, we continue to see narratives that compli-
cate popular histories of  people, places, and time periods.
Left History would like to thank Mathieu Brûlé, for his work as an edi-
tor for the past two years. Brûlé’s expertise, particularly on LGBT and labour
issues have been invaluable to the journal. Left History would like to introduce
some new members to the editorial board. Welcome to editors Carly Simpson,
Abril Liberatori, and Assistant Book Review Editor Sara Farhan.
NOTES
1 Joan Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of  Historical Analysis” The American
Historical Review Vol. 91 No. 5 (1986), 1067.
LH 18_1 Final_Left History 18.1.qxd  2014-07-10  9:20 AM  Page 8


Heller, Henry

John Lukacs, A Short History of the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2013).

Ho, Mabel

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational
Identities (Vancouver: University of  British Columbia Press, 2014). 328 pp.
$34.95 Paperback.
Glenda Tibe Bonifacio’s Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational
Identities (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2014) is a welcome addition to the literature on
Filipina experiences in Canada and to the research on immigrant settlement and
transnationalism. Instead of  examining the traditional metropolitan centres in
Canada, such as Toronto or Vancouver, this book draws our attention to Filipina
experiences in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Pinayism or Pinay peminism
informs Bonifacio’s research in studying the social incorporation of  Filipino
women by exploring the migration, identity, community, and civic engagement of
Pinays in Western Canada. In doing so, Bonifacio effectively disrupts the com-
mon representation of  Filipino women in the media and presents an alternative
portrayal of  Filipino women and the “many ways in which they make a differ-
ence, not only in their own lives but also in the lives of  others” (21-22). This
exploration sheds light on the agency and empowerment of  Filipino women as
they navigate their negotiated identities and community participation in their
daily lives. 
By specifically focusing on Filipino women’s civic engagement in the
Prairies, Bonifacio brings together the literature on Philippine political economy
and Canadian immigrant settlement and transnational experience. Bonifacio
weaves in the theme of  how “being Filipino” is “identity becoming” beyond
national borders – that distinct sense of  who we are away from home” (2) for
the women under the framework of  Canadian multiculturalism. This gendered
analysis is particularly unique because it is situated in the Canadian Prairies. For
example, in 2006, Filipinos were the largest ethnic minority in Winnipeg,
accounting for 34.6 per cent of  the 64 per cent visible minorities in the
province.1
Bonifacio conducted focus-group discussions and interviews with first
generation Filipino women, permanent immigrants and temporary migrants
from Alberta (Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Pincher Creek, Picture Buttle,
Lethbridge, and Cardston), Saskatchewan (Saskatoon and Regina) and Manitoba
(Winnipeg). One of  Bonifacio’s goals in this research was to present a different
segment of  the Filipino population. Filipino women who are traditionally studied
in the literature are from the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in Canada and the
aim was to present a different side of  Filipino women who migrate to Canada
(3). This project studies Filipino women of  different migration status together.
Bonifacio’s sampling method was to identity female community leaders and a
person fulfills this criterion by having one contact who had labeled that person
as key community woman. By speaking to informed members of  the community,
Bonifacio fulfills her objective in representing a different segment of  the popula-
Left History 18.276
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:07 PM  Page 76
tion and meritoriously illustrates how they are actively involved in community
participation and volunteerism. An alternative explanation to how the themes of
migration, identity, and community building occur may present itself  if  a differ-
ent strategy of  recruitment was employed. For instance, what would have hap-
pened if  ordinary people were involved as the participants; would their experi-
ences and engagement with the community be similar or different? 
Throughout the book, Bonifacio skillfully illustrates the negotiations of
multiple identities Filipino or Filipino Canadian women engage in as they partici-
pate “both within and beyond their communities” (248). This research widens
the lens of  migration, settlement, and transnationalism in Canada and enriches
the literature of  Filipina experiences. As Bonifacio offers, studying dual citizen-
ship is one area where future research can be extended (230). The meaning and
reasons as to why people hold citizenship is particularly relevant because this cat-
egory can potentially mobilize grassroots political activism and facilitate women’s
empowerment. As this research focuses on first generation Filipino women,
future research can examine how subsequent generations, like the second genera-
tion of  Filipino Canadian women, encounter identity, transnational practices, and
incorporation. This analysis could further engage with the literature on intergen-
erational issues and transnational families. Bonifacio’s research does illustrate the
“collectivist orientation of  Philippine society” (249) and the tight kinship system
and social networks involved in maintaining and sustaining such linkages and
ties. Moreover, as Bonifacio notes that Canada’s multicultural landscape and poli-
cy shape the lives and experiences of  these first generation Filipino women in
Prairies, this raises important questions as to how the themes of  migration, iden-
tity, and community building will look like in other countries. As this book is
premised on showcasing the triumphant nature of  migration and settlement for
Filipino and Filipino Canadian women in Prairies, the potentially exploitative
migrant worker program is not covered unlike her other work. In shifting the
focus of  the scholarship, Bonifacio’s research gives another dimension to
Filipino and Filipino Canadian women in Canada. Overall, this text opens up the
dialogue into researching other avenues such as intergenerational family dynam-
ics, transnational families, and international comparisons. Glenda Tibe
Bonifacio’s Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational Identities deliveries
an important contribution to the research on Filipina experiences in Canada and
is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers studying
Canadian migration, transnational identity, and community. 
1 Manitoba Immigration and Multiculturalism. “Ethnicity Series: A Demographic
Population of  Manitoba. Volume 3: Population Groups and Ethnic Origins,”
https://www.gov.mb.ca/labour/immigration/pdf/manitoba-immigration-ethnici-
ty-series-3.pdf
Mabel Ho
University of  British Columbia
Book Reviews 77
LH 18.2 Final 3.qxp_Left History 18.2.qxd  2015-07-10  7:07 PM  Page 77


Not a member yet

Creating a “white man’s country” in Australia, South Africa, & the US

Gene Allen, Making National News. A History of Canadian Press (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013).

Edward J. Hedican, Ipperwash: The Tragic Failure of Canada’s Aboriginal Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013).

Ella Myers. Worldly Ethics: Democratic Politics and Care for the World. (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013

Eric Avila, The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014).

About the Contributors

Editorial Note

Editorial Note

John Lukacs, A Short History of the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2013).

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational Identities (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2014).

1,044

1,130