Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'Kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia [Paperback]

Isabelle Knockwood (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co; 2nd edition (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0969418027
• ISBN-13: 978-0969418061
• ASIN: 096941806X
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #923,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Distubing Account of Attempted Cultural Genocide, January 10, 2000

By 

C. Milton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'Kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia (Paperback)

Isabelle Knockwood has a shocking story to tell. She will take you by the hand into her past and the atrocities commited within the walls of "Shubie" Indian Residential School in a way so simple and literal that will grip your understanding until the very end. Definitely the first book to read if you have plans to understand the Mi'kmaw people of eastern Canada and their modern culture. It will take you right to the depths of collective consciousness and the indifference of an entire colony that allowed this cultural massacre to endure for over 30 years. Read it with an open mind and you will have gained access to a wealth of hidden and opressed Mi'kmaw culture, one of the roots for many Mi'kmaw social problems and identity conflicts pending. As a foreigner to the Mi'kmaw culture I must say that this book has been of invaluable help to my research. Thankyou Isabelle.

C. Milton

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Secrets from an Indian Residential School, January 20, 2008

By 

Eleanor Gail Cooper - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'Kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia (Paperback)

In unflinching detail, Mi'kmaw author Isabelle Knockwood describes her years of fear spent in the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, which she entered at the tender age of five. Life in this bleak institution comes vividly before our eyes in scene after heartrending scene, from the harsh discipline of the classroom, where her language and culture were so relentlessly stripped from her soul, to the drudgery of the kitchen and laundry, where small children worked unsupervised with dangerous machinery. Presiding over all and often meting out brutal punishment were the nuns and priest assigned to act as the children's guardians.

Amid the pervasive gloom are fleeting moments of sheer delight - glimpses of little girls skating on the pond in winter, or excitedly weaving skipping ropes in spring. The happiest moments of all, however, are the author's visits from her parents every Sunday throughout the years of her stay. Without them, she could not have survived.

This is a courageous book. Woven among the personal memories and reflections are the stories of other survivors of the school - stories never told before. The stark testimonies have shattered a taboo. Like the blighted walls of the old school itself, the wall of silence protecting its secrets has at last come tumbling down.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart-wrenching, especially for a Mi'kMaq person, August 28, 2010

By 

OmiSade Ali "Sade's Mermaid" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'Kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia (Paperback)

So much healing needs to take place within and without my Mi'kMaw Nation. Miss Knockwood's work helps to begin that healing because to heal from any hurt means that you first need to acknowledge it. So many of our families have turned to alcohol or other drugs to numb the pain or are living with debilitating post traumatic stress disorders, unable to form attachments because of the damage to kinship values within the walls of the residential schools. Congratulations to Canada who, as a country, is at least apologising for the devastation to babies, adults and communities who were shamed into thinking that to be an Indian meant being a savage without a soul. I din't think I'll live to see the US taking the same action, but chii miigwech (big thanks), Miss Knockwood!