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Research
My research and writing and teaching are intimately connected.
West of Where? For the past four years, an interdisciplinary SSHRC-supported research project "West of Where?" on contemporary prairie women writers and artists has enabled me to collaborate with art historian Dr. Lynne Bell, Chair, Art & Art History, University of Saskatchewan on an ongoing series of interviews, presentations and a book-in-progress.
This image/text memoir explores family photography as well as the conundrum of writing autobiographical narratives in a culture that refuses to acknowledge tales of pain except as voyeuristic spectacle or whining. For an introduction to Crybaby! visit the book profile in Northwest Passages: Canadian Literature Online
and in the University of Alberta Folio, this short article
Becoming Mah (a work in progress)
On January 15, 1999, I adopted my first child,
seventeen-month old Rae Xiao Bao in the city of Maoming, Guandong Province,
China. Becoming Mah explores the complex worlds of cross-cultural
adoptive parenting, Chinese cultural and social policies affecting women,
and the pleasures of becoming a mother in the middle of one’s life. This
writing and research also develops from one of Crybaby!’s threads
– an exploration of a woman’s infertility. This life-writing work will
be produced in electronic hypertext, as well as in book-work form with
images, prose and poetry extending my interest in how family photography
makes and remakes the family. I've been making a website that explores
some of the key issues concerning my adoption. Click on "adoption"
at the top or bottom of this page to link to it.
My initial writing notes about my adoption are forthcoming in West
Coast Line 33/2 or number 29 'what women are doing'
This initial writing can also be found here.