Photography, Memory, and Refugee Identity ― The Voyage of the Ss Walnut, 1948

On 13 December 1948, a ship carrying 347 Estonian refugees fleeing
Soviet rule arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax. Tired, weary, and anxious,
the refugees received a warm general welcome, and journalists praised
them as the type of immigrants Canada both wanted and needed -- white,
northern, and anti-Communist. Although the passengers of the SS
Walnut appeared to experience little prejudice as they
adjusted to life in Canada, their self-identification as refugees and
their traumatic memories were no less fraught than others who had
experienced forced migration.

In Photography, Memory, and Refugee Identity,
anthropologist Lynda Mannik analyzes the refugee experience through the
photographic record of those who made that harrowing voyage more than
sixty years ago. Drawing on a collection of photographs taken during
the voyage and at Pier 21, Mannik asks surviving passengers to describe
their migration, their reception in Canada, and their feelings about
the terms refugee and boat person. She explores to what extent the
photos reflect the refugees' experiences as they remember them
and how those experiences compare with representations of refugees in
news media, in government rhetoric, and at the Pier 21 Museum in
Halifax. Ultimately, Mannik demonstrates that the photographs in the
Walnut collection bear witness to the refugee experience even as the
meanings attached to them have changed over time and in shifting
contexts.

Lynda Mannik is a visiting assistant professor in the
Department of Anthropology at Memorial University.

Lynda Mannik is a visiting assistant professor in theDepartment of Anthropology at Memorial University.