Maru

Read worldwide for her wisdom, authenticity, and skillful prose, South African–born Bessie Head (1937–1986) offers a moving and magical tale of an orphaned girl, Margaret Cadmore, who goes to teach in a remote village in Botswana where her own people are kept as slaves. Her presence polarizes a community that does not see her people as human, and condemns her to the lonely life of an outcast. In the love story and intrigue that follows, Head brilliantly combines a portrait of loneliness with a rich affirmation of the mystery and spirituality of life. The core of this otherworldly, rhapsodic work is a plot about racial injustice and prejudice with a lesson in how traditional intolerance may render whole sections of a society untouchable.

Este libro lo empec a escribir cuando mi hija se enferm, era tan grande mi dolor que senta la necesidad de desahogar todos esos sentimientos que me hacan sentir tan desgraciada. Quera comprender la vida, ser una mujer normal y aceptar lo que Dios me mandaba, pero algo, dentro de m se revelaba, y senta un gran resentimiento con Dios. Porqu nos castigaba de esa manera tan cruel?, y al mismo tiempo senta que Dios me daba la oportunidad de luchar por la vida de mi hija, que como todas las madres de la tierra que aman y luchan por ellos, esta confusin de sentimientos, me hacia mucho dao.

In 1914, the SS Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver Harbour and was detained for two months. Most of its 376 passengers were then forcibly returned to India. Unmooring the Komagata Maru challenges conventional Canadian historical accounts by drawing from multiple disciplines and fields to consider the international and colonial dimensions of the voyage. By situating South Asian Canadian history within a global-imperial context, the contributors offer a critical reading of Canadian multiculturalism through past events and their commemoration. A hundred years later, the voyage of the Komagata Maru has yet to reach its conclusion.

The Kanrin Maru was the first Japanese ship to visit the United States of America in an official capacity as the Treaty of Edo that Japan signed with the US Government in 1858 stipulated that Japan should subsequently dispatch an envoy to the US to ratify the Treaty. By March 1859 it had been agreed that a Japanese ambassador and officials would travel to Washington on the Powhatan, the US’s flagship of the East India Squadron, a voyage that was then scheduled to start a year later in February 1860. Preparations to dispatch an ambassador then began. Sometime thereafter, the Japanese government decided they would also send a ship of their own to America. Behind this decision lay three reasons. First this was a matter of pride showing that they too were capable of crossing the mighty Pacific Ocean in their own vessel; second, on a practical note, the Kanrin Maru (the vessel that made the journey) would return with news of Powhatan’s safe arrival in the US but third, she would also carry a second Ambassador in case the Powhatan failed to reach the US. This is the story of that voyage.

Almost 2,000 British Prisoners of War were aboard the Japanese freighter Lisbon Maru when an American submarine torpedoed and sank her in October 1942. This book tells the story of those men, from the fighting in Hong Kong, through the sinking, and for some, to liberation and beyond. Although never previously studied in any depth, the sinking of the Lisbon Maru was the most costly American on British "Friendly Fire" incident of the Second World War. Of the 4,500 of Hong Kong's garrison who perished during the war, 1,000 died directly or indirectly from this sinking. From American, British, Hong Kong and Japanese sources, this book reconstructs the fateful voyage of the Lisbon Maru, and the experiences of the captives, the captors, and those on board the submarine that sank her. The book will be of interest to anyone wishing to know more about the "Hellships" that caused the deaths of almost 20,000 Allied Prisoners of War during the Second World War, or the experiences of Allied POWs in Japan.

This new and expanded edition offers the most thoroughly researched account of the notorious Komagata Maru incident. The event centres on the ship's nearly four hundred Punjabi passengers, who sought entry into Canada at Vancouver in the summer of 1914, only to be chased away by a Canadian warship. This story became a symbol of prejudicial immigration policies, which Canadians today reject, and served to fuel the emerging anti-British movement in India. It deserves the careful re-examination it gets in this thoroughly updated edition that provides a contemporary perspective on a defining moment in Canadian, British Empire, and Indian history.

In 1914, Canada was a very British society with anti-Asian attitudes. Although Great Britain had declared that all people from India were officially British citizens and could live anywhere in the British Commonwealth, Canada refused to accept them. This racist policy was challenged by Gurdit Singh, a Sikh businessman, who chartered a ship, the Komagata Maru, and sailed to Vancouver with over 300 fellow Indians wishing to immigrate to Canada. They were turned back, tragically. Over the years, the Canadian government gradually changed its immigration policies, first allowing entry to wives and children of Indian immigrants and later to many more immigrants from India. The Indo-Canadian community has grown throughout Canada, especially in British Columbia. Many in the community continue to celebrate their Indian heritage which enriches Canadian culture.