At the Bridge

Wickwire painstakingly unearths the life and legacy of someone who was undeservedly 'invisibilized'...she does a thorough job of unearthing Teit’s legacy. Her book is filled with detail, anecdotes, and personal reflection. It’s an inspiring must-read for anyone interested in reconciliation today. Nelle Oosterom, Senior Editor, Canada's History

When Wickwire talks about Teit, there is an obvious excitement at the chance to highlight such an interesting character. That excitement comes across on the pages of the book as lively, solid reportage with a healthy dash of deserved reverence. At the Bridge is dense without being dry. Dana Gee, Vancouver Sun

Wendy Wickwire’s groundbreaking historical investigation places James Teit as a key figure in early North American anthropology, but also as central to historical Indigenous rights activism in British Columbia. Julie Cruikshank, author of Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters and Social Imagination

Wickwire has done B.C. scholars and Indigenous peoples an essential service in deftly peeling back the layers of personality, family, and life circumstances of one of Canada’s unsung heroes ... [her] work is not only highly recommended, but a definite must-read for anyone concerned with the unresolved Indigenous ‘land question’ that continues to haunt the province to this day. Dan Marshall, The Ormsby Review

It is a remarkable book about a remarkable man and deserves a place on the bookshelf of everyone who understands that knowing where we’ve come from is essential to navigating our course to somewhere else and to somewhere that we hope to make better rather than worse. Stephen Hume, Walhachin Press

Wickwire draws her audience into a style of anthropology that is situated, participatory, and strives to be contextually self-aware at every turn. Mark Zion, Kate Plyley, Hester Lessard, Rebecca Johnson, Alberta Law Review

Wickwire painstakingly unearths the life and legacy of someone who was undeservedly 'invisibilized'...she does a thorough job of unearthing Teit’s legacy. Her book is filled with detail, anecdotes, and personal reflection. It’s an inspiring must-read for anyone interested in reconciliation today. Nelle Oosterom, Canada's History

It is an exceptional book about a remarkable man who never received the recognition he deserved for his major input to what was then the new science of anthropology. Jim Cooperman, Salmon Arm Observer

At first blush this is a biography of James Teit, whose life has been overshadowed by others in American anthropology. But it is so much more. It is a political history of the Pacific Northwest, an account of organizing against the iron fist of Canadian statecraft and settler colonialism, and a rigorous account of anthropological relationships in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – consensual, strategic, sometimes clearly parasitic – that made for the fields of cultural theory, museology, and social science. This book is a must-read. Audra Simpson, professor of anthropology, Columbia University, and author of Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life across the Borders of Settler States

Wendy Wickwire’s book about James Teit has been eagerly awaited in Shetland, his place of birth. The story of the modest young man who began a new life overseas and became a helpmate to the Indigenous people in his new home is inspiring and engrossing ... a tale told well. Brian Smith, archivist at the Shetland Museum and Archives and author of Toons and Tenants: Settlement and Society in Shetland, 1299–1899

James Teit spoke three Interior Salish languages, wrote several superb ethnographies, and devoted himself to Indigenous rights. Wendy Wickwire’s splendid book reveals this great man – his politics, his situated anthropology, his difficult relationship with Franz Boas – as never before. Cole Harris, professor emeritus of geography, University of British Columbia, and author of Making Native Space: Colonialism, Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia

An enthralling exploration of the undervalued life and legacy of Shetland-born anthropologist James Teit. Wendy Wickwire’s comprehensive biography rescues from obscurity a remarkable man whose ethnographic studies and informed political activism for Indigenous rights continue to shape British Columbia’s history. Marjory Harper, chair in history, University of Aberdeen, and author of Scotland No More? The Scots Who Left Scotland in the Twentieth Century

With the verve of a gifted storyteller, the passion of a lifetime’s work in the region, and immaculate research, Wickwire traces Teit’s journeys between Shetland and Spences Bridge, Boasian anthropology and Indigenous forms of knowledge, northern Scots socialism and Indigenous community. This book is a timely and intimate study of the painstaking work of building cultural bridges. Elizabeth Vibert, associate professor of history, University of Victoria, and author of Traders’ Tales: Narratives of Cultural Encounters in the Columbia Plateau

This is a remarkable book about a remarkable man. A must-read for anyone interested in BC’s history. No one has understood what we now call truth and reconciliation better than James Teit. And Wendy Wickwire has done a magnificent job of bringing the man, his anthropology, and his dedication to Indigenous rights alive. A tour de force. Hamar Foster, professor emeritus of law, University of Victoria, and author of Let Right Be Done: Aboriginal Title, the Calder Case, and the Future of Indigenous Rights

Wendy Wickwire’s biography of James Teit is the first comprehensive and authoritative account of this important ethnographer and political activist. This compelling book should become a classic addition to our knowledge of Indigenous-settler relations in early British Columbia. Ira Jacknis, senior research anthropologist, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and author of The Storage Box of Tradition: Kwakiutl Art, Anthropologists, and Museums, 1881–1981

As a Secwepemc, I knew of James Teit and his work, but I did not know his background or why he felt the urge to work with Indigenous people in what is now British Columbia. In At the Bridge, Wendy Wickwire brings Teit to life and gives him the credit he is due by vividly recounting the early history of the Indigenous struggle and of the man who became one of us. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Bev Sellars, former chief of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation and author of They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School