[Podcast] Leaving the City: The Gumboot Girls, Urban-Rural Migration, and the Search for Community
Subscribe via iTunes to have the weekly podcast downloaded automatically.
In the 1970s, many women flocked to British Columbia’s north coast in search of a different lifestyle, often leaving larger cities. The port city of Prince Rupert was a resource town and the local economy was booming at the time. A recently published book, Gumboot Girls: Adventure, Love and Survival on the North Coast of British Columbia, recounts the stories of 34 women, who migrated to Prince Rupert, Haida Gwaii, and other surrounding communities on BC’s north coast. On the program, we hear from a number of the ‘Gumboot Girls’ and discuss their collective experiences of urban-rural migration, feminism, employment in a booming resource town, and the desire to build community beyond the modernist urban landscape of the 1970s.
The Vancouver book launch takes place at the People’s Co-op Books on Commercial Drive on November 30th, 2012 at 7:00pm. You can find the Gumboot Girls Facebook page here.
If you’re interested in the back-to-the-land movement in the 1970s in BC, you might find the recently published book All Roads Lead to Wells: Storeis of the Hippie Days (Caitlin Press, 2012) (http://caitlin-press.com/our-books/all-roads-lead-to-wells/) of interest. Recently reviewed in the Georgia Straight: http://www.straight.com/article-837691/vancouver/historic-hippie-refuge-reached-all-roads
Great – thanks for letting us know.