Robin Fisher

The fascinating origin story of Wilson Duff, the pioneering BC anthropologist and museologist remembered for his contributions to research on First Nations cultures of the Northwest Coast. Wilson Duff was born in 1925 in the city of Vancouver and his turbulent early years were shaped by the Great Depression and the Second World War. An intelligent child, he quickly progressed in school. After one year at the University of British Columbia, he signed up for the Air Force. An analytic thinker, Duff excelled as a navigator on a Liberator bomber based in India. However, these years carried their own traumas--the omnipresent terror of war and the spectre of death. On his return from India, Duff recommenced his studies at UBC. There he began a love affair with anthropology and museum studies. As provincial anthropologist at the BC Provincial Museum from 1950 to 1965 and then at the University of British Columbia, he helped to shape Canadian and British Columbian understanding of First Nations' cultures. Forging relationships with Indigenous Peoples during field work, Duff was particularly interested in the Northwest Coast cultures and art, and authored important books including Arts of the Raven: Masterworks by the Northwest Coast Indian and Images Stone B. C.: Thirty Centuries of Northwest Coast Indian Sculpture. Hundreds of students left his classes with a greater understanding of Indigenous cultures and the consequences of settler colonialism in British Columbia. He devoted his life to understanding Indigenous people and cultures and communicating that understanding to newcomers, a subject of continued relevance today. Duff struggled with depression for much of his life and died by suicide at age 51. In the end, he claimed he did not fear death because "the end is the beginning." He believed in reincarnation: that he would be coming back. In tracing the story of Wilson Duff, biographer Robin Fisher reveals the evolution of anthropological studies, the history of a time and place--Vancouver during the Great Depression and war years--and the more recent changes taking place in museum and anthropology studies. Told with insight, and attention to the controversies and complexities of Duff's life, this story will fascinate anyone engaged in BC history.

If working with people from other cultures is often an enigma, and sometimes a heart ache too, this short book will give insights into why things can be difficult, and how you can turn things round so that both you and your patients can find your encounters rewarding, productive and enjoyable.

The leading industry association's handbook for going green in the kitchen and bath Kitchen & Bath Sustainable Design is the National Kitchen and Bath Association's complete guide to "greening" these important rooms. The first book to focus exclusively on kitchen and bath sustainability, this full color guide covers every consideration for both remodels and new construction, making it a handy reference for any kitchen and bath professional. Case studies of award-winning projects demonstrate how space, budget, and sustainability can come together to create beautiful, functional, efficient rooms, and illustrations throughout provide visual examples of the techniques discussed. The book includes information on greening one's practice for the client's benefit, plus an appendix of additional resources and instructional materials for classroom use. Outside of general heating and cooling, kitchen appliances use the bulk of a household's energy. Kitchens and baths together use an average of 300 gallons of water per day for a family of four, and both rooms are high-use areas that require good air quality. Kitchen & Bath Sustainable Design provides a handbook to designing these rooms for sustainability, without sacrificing comfort or livability. With comprehensive guidance on approaching these rooms sustainably, readers will: Communicate better with builders, clients, and potential clientsUnderstand technical considerations, and the criteria that make a design "green"Conduct a full design analysis, including life cycle costing and efficiencyLearn the ratings systems and standards in play in the green kitchen and bath The biggest elements of sustainable interior design—energy efficiency, water use, and materials selection—are all major players in the kitchen and bath. Clients are increasingly demanding attention to sustainability issues, and designers must be up to date on the latest guidelines, best practices, and technology. Kitchen & Bath Sustainable Design is the complete technical and practical guide to green design for the kitchen and bath professional.

Published 50 years after the last major treatment of American art song, the first edition of the three-volume American Art Song and American Poetry was the first work to fully consider the musical settings of American poetry. Ruth Friedberg's monumental study was undertaken as a partial remedy to examine American song, from Edward Macdowell up through 1980. In the first edition, Friedberg focused on the interrelationship between the composer and the poet and the ways in which this influenced the completed song. Pieces selected for inclusion had the dual function of recognizing the importance of contributions to the performing literature as well as illuminating phases of America's cultural past. In this second edition, now published in a convenient, one-volume format, Ruth Friedberg and Robin Fisher have updated the entries on composers and poets from the first edition and added new individuals to both categories. New composers appearing in this volume include Florence Price, Lee Hoiby, Emma Lou Diemer, Helen Greenberg, Flicka Rahn, Libby Larsen, John Musto, Lori Laitman, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Jake Heggie. Poets now receiving their first treatment are Ezra Pound, Emma Lazarus, Dorothy Diemer Hendry, Dorothy Parker, Willa Cather, Louise Bogan, and William Carlos Williams. As before, musical examples are liberally employed to illustrate specific approaches to poetic text-setting and are much more visually accessible due to present-day digital technology. The new edition of American Art Song and American Poetry will be a valuable addition to the collections of scholars, performers, and libraries. It is an ideal reference work for students and faculty of voice in undergraduate and graduate courses in American music as well as literature scholars interested in the interdisciplinary approaches. Singers and teachers of singing will find in this new edition a vast array of carefully selected program material for the studio and the recital hall, along with carefully researched background material to enable effective performance. Users will find the volume's extensive bibliography and general index extremely helpful.

Originally published in 1977, Contact and Conflict has remained an important book, which has inspired numerous scholars to examine further the relationships between the Indians and the Europeans – fur traders as well as settlers. For this edition, Robin Fisher has written a new introduction in which he surveys the literature since 1977 and comments on any new insights into these relationships. Fisher contends that the fur trade had originally brought minimal cultural change to the Indians. In 1858 it essentially came to an end, and with the beginning of white settlement, there was a fundamental change in the relationship between Indians and Europeans. What had been a reciprocal system between the two civilizations became a pattern of white dominance. He shows that while the Indians had been able to adjust gradually to the changes introduced by the traders in the contact period, they lost control of their culture under the impact of colonization.

What Right? and its adult-themed companion What’s Wrong? are graphic interpretations of what it means to live in a society where we presumably enjoy the right to free speech, and what happens when that right is -challenged. What Right? collects comic art that confronts the serious issues around the denial of civil rights and freedom of speech in particular, and includes work by such familiar artists as Dan -Piraro (Bizarro), Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead) and many others. A fundraising project for the Little Sister’s Defence Fund (to assist the Vancouver gay and lesbian bookstore’s legal challenge to the customs seizures they’ve been plagued by for the last 15 years), Arsenal Pulp Press is donating all proceeds over and above its production costs, and all individuals involved have donated their time, energy, and creative talents to create two marvelous collections of engaging comic art. With an introduction by author Mark Macdonald, buyer for Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium. Robin Fisher is a comic activist in Vancouver.