Nowhere that plowcut worms heal themselves in red loam; spruces squat, skirts in sand or the stones of a river rattle its dark tunnel under the elms, is there a spot not measured by hands ~ from Milton Acorn’s The Island
Walk anywhere on Prince Edward Island, the postage-stamp of a province on Canada’s east coast, and you know that it’s been walked before. The Island has been home to Mi’kmaq for ten thousand years, French and English settlers more recently, and now Canadians. It has experienced intensive resource use for centuries and its forests, fisheries, and farmlands carry the wounds of soil and water contamination, urban and shoreline development, and coastal erosion. The Island is such a cultural artifact that one can be forgiven for thinking that its nature is nothing but history, time masquerading as space. And yet what has survived is a place still so pastoral, so beautiful that it attracts a million visitors every summer.
PEI’s long and well-documented history, its small size, its status as a distinct political entity, and, of course, its islandness make it a compelling case for studying how past environmental attitudes and practices have shaped a place’s society and ecology. This weeklong workshop brings together more than 60 local, national, and international participants to uncover the links between the Island’s past, present, and future. The goals of the event are both local and global, pragmatic and theoretical:
The organizing committee wishes to thank the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada for its support, through the Environmental Issues – Public Outreach program.
Photo credit: "the wizard: driftwood, cavendish beach, prince edward island," by undergroundbastard.
(This list is automatically generated)
