Department of History congratulates Myra Rutherdale on the publication of her latest book. Caregiving on the Periphery: Historical Perspectives on Nursing and Midwifery in Canada,
a collection of eleven essays edited by Myra, was published yesterday (April 19) by McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Here’s the press’s description of the volume:
Women have played a crucial role in health and medicine as nurses and midwives, particularly in remote geographical areas. Caregiving on the Periphery looks at the variety of both their medical work and the cultural conditions involved. Assembling scholars from nursing, women’s studies, geography, native studies, and history, this volume looks at the experience of nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador, northern Saskatchewan, northern British Columbia, and the Arctic as well as topics such as Mennonite midwives in Western Canada, missionary nurses, and Aboriginal nursing assistants in the Yukon. Contributors illuminate the larger themes of religion, colonialism, social divisions, and native-newcomer relations. Special attention is paid to nursing in Aboriginal communities and the relations of race to medical work, particularly in connection to ideas of British ethnicity and conceptualized meanings of “whiteness.” An informative collection of fascinating works, Caregiving on the Periphery provides insight into the history of medicine in Canada and the long-established importance of women for the country’s wellbeing.