Time and a Place: An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island

by Edward MacDonald, Joshua MacFadyen, Irené Novaczek

Overview

With its long and well-documented history, Prince Edward Island makes a compelling case study for thousands of years of human interaction with a specific ecosystem. The pastoral landscapes, red sandstone cliffs, and small fishing villages of Canada’s “garden province” are appealing because they appear timeless, but they are as culturally constructed as they are shaped by the ebb and flow of the tides. Bringing together experts from a multitude of disciplines, the essays in Time and a Place explore the island’s marine and terrestrial environment from its prehistory to its recent past. Beginning with PEI’s history as a blank slate – a land scraped by ice and then surrounded by rising seas – this mosaic of essays documents the arrival of flora, fauna, and humans, and the different ways these inhabitants have lived in this place over time. The collection offers policy insights for the province while also informing broader questions about the value of islands and other geographically bounded spaces for the study of environmental history and the crafting of global sustainability. Putting PEI at the forefront of Canadian environmental history, Time and a Place is a remarkable accomplishment that will be eagerly received and read by historians, geographers, scholars of Canadian and island studies, and environmentalists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773598737
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2016
Series:	McGill-Queen's Rural, Wildland, and Resource Studies , #5
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Edward MacDonald is associate professor of Canadian and Prince Edward Island history at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Joshua MacFadyen is assistant professor of environmental humanities at Arizona State University.

Irené Novaczek is the former director of the Institute of Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Edward MacDonald is professor of history at the University of Prince Edward Island and coeditor of several edited collections on environmental history of Atlantic Canada.
Joshua MacFadyen is Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities and associate professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Figures and Tables xi

Introduction: Promise and Premise: An Environmental History for Prince Edward Island Edward MacDonald Joshua MacFadyen Irené Novaczek 3

I Imagining Islands: Islands and Environmental History

1 Muddying the Waters of Environmental History: Islands as Ecotones John R. Gillis 19

2 Museums, Laboratories, Showcases; Prince Edward and Other Islands in Environmental History Graeme Wynn 36

II Shaping Abegweit: People and Environmental History

3 The Palaeo-Environment and the Peopling of Prince Edward Island: An Archaeological Perspective David Keenlyside Helen Kristmanson 59

4 The Forests of Prince Edward Island, 1720-1900 Douglas Sobey 82

5 Wildlife Matters: A Historical Overview of Public Consciousness of Habitat and Wildlife Loss on Prince Edward Island Rosemary Gurley 109

6 The Mermaid's Tresses: Seaplants in the Culture and Economy of Prince Edward Island Irené Novaczek 140

III Harvesting Land and Sea: Development and the Environment on Prince Edward Island

7 The Fertile Crescent: Agricultural Land Use on Prince Edward Island, 1861-1971 Joshua MacFadyen 161

8 Agriculture and the Environment on Prince Edward Island, 1969-2014: An Uneasy Relationship Jean-Paul Arsenault 195

9 Lines in the Water: Time and Place in a Fishery Edward MacDonald Boyde Beck 218

10 The Landscapes of Tourism: Scenic Images in Prince Edward Island Tourism Literature Alan MacEachern 246

11 Two Centuries of Energy on Prince Edward Island Kathleen Stuart 264

Epilogue: Lessons of Time, Place, and an Island Claire Campbell 288

Appendix: Laying Down the Laws: Environment-Related Legislation on Prince Edward Island, 1770-1970 Colin MacIntyre 301

Notes 309

Bibliography 369

Contributors 415

Index 421

Editorial Reviews

A thoroughly researched collection that has much to offer those interested in the history of Prince Edward Island and its environment.” Atlantic Books Today


“The chapters complement and build on each other, giving a surprisingly comprehensive view of PEI environmental history over the longue durée. Time and a Place will undoubtedly put PEI on the map of Canadian environmental history, and will be used as a model for other regions that as yet have nothing of the kind to compare with it.” - Matthew Hatvany, Université Laval


“This book could serve as a template for what an environmental history should be … a complex interweaving of biophysicality, humankind, ideas and technologies. There is an understanding that detailed, place-specific environmental histories nest within dee

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