Cultivating Connections ― The Making of Chinese Prairie Canada

In the late 1870s, thousands of Chinese men left coastal British Columbia and the western United States and headed east. For these men, the Prairies were a land of opportunity: there, they could open shops, and potentially earn enough money to marry. The result of almost a decade's research and more than three hundred interviews, Cultivating Connections tells the stories of some of prairie Canada's Chinese settlers - across the generations, between the genders, and through cultural difference. These stories reveal the critical importance of networks of belonging within these communities in coping with experiences of racism and establishing a successful life on the Prairies.

Alison R. Marshall is a professor in the department of religion at Brandon University and adjunct professor of women's and gender studies at the University of Winnipeg. She is the author ofThe Way of the Bachelor: Early Chinese Settlement in Manitoba.