The West Unbound: Social and Cultural Studies

Writing on the western halves of Canada and the United States once focused on the alienation of the peoples of these regions from residents of the eastern regions. The mythology of a homogenized West fighting for a place in the sun blunted interest in the lives of ordinary people and the social struggles that pitted some groups in the West against others, usually the elite groups that claimed to speak for the whole region on the national stage.

This series challenges simplistic definitions of the West and its institutions. It focuses upon the ways in which various groups of Westerners—women, workers, Indigenous peoples, farmers, and people of various ethnic origins, among others—tried to shape the institutions and attitudes of the region. It also assesses why and how the people of the two Wests established local and regional myths and how these myths in turn contributed to cultural and social developments.

The series demonstrates that the social structures and cultural attitudes in both Canada and the United States are in constant evolution, with echoes of established mythologies constantly being challenged by new understandings and changing constellations of social forces. This series draws on a variety of disciplines and is intended for both university audiences and lay audiences with an interest in the American and Canadian Wests.

Send your manuscript for consideration to aupress@athabascau.ca.