The Pioneer Woman: A Canadian Character Type

A female character type, one which is arguably unique to Canada, can be found in English-Canadian fiction from the time of the earliest creative writing, up to and including the present time. By virtue of her historical origins, this character type should be labelled the pioneer woman since her creation was, in fact, grounded in the actuality of the pioneer experience, and on details of that experience that were reconstructed and reinterpreted in fiction, often through a moralistic or idealistic filter.;In The Backwoods of Canada (1836) and The Canadian Settler\u27s Guide (1855), Catharine Parr Traill described a pioneer woman\u27s role on the Ontario frontier of the mid-nineteenth century, mingling fact with fancy to paint an idealized portrait of the Canadian pioneer woman. Traill\u27s transposition of this figure into fiction, as for example, Catharine Maxwell of Canadian Crusoes (1852), resulted in her creation of what was, in effect, a new fictional character type: the pioneer woman.;Various versions of the pioneer woman appear in English-Canadian fiction throughout the hundred years following Traill\u27s development of the character type. Sara Jeannette Duncan\u27s The Imperialist (1904) and Ralph Connor\u27s The Man From Glengarry (1901) and Glengarry School Days (1902) feature pioneer women who cope on a real physical frontier and also cope with a new type of frontier environment, one grounded in social and personal concerns rather than in the physical landscape. The longevity of the pioneer woman as character type in fiction is further demonstrated in the fiction of Margaret Laurence. Hagar Shipley of The Stone Angel (1964), Rachel Cameron of A Jest of God (1966), and Morag Gunn of The Diviners (1974) inhabit an internal, personal frontier. Like Duncan\u27s Advena Murchison and Connor\u27s Mrs. Murray, they are more contemporary versions of Traill\u27s pioneer woman. All exhibit traits which link them to Traill\u27s original model of the pioneer; all are part of a creative continuity which extends from Traill to Laurence and beyond

Reminiscences of a Pioneer Woman

"…with a large party including many of mother's relatives, started out overland by ox teams along the old Oregon trail, reaching the Columbia River district in the late fall of 1847.

Trying to restrict her range: The backlash in response to Ree Drummond, “The Pioneer Woman,” and Drummond’s agency in constructing and profiting from a 21st century pioneering persona

Ree Drummond is the creator of the wildly popular lifestyle blog, thepioneerwoman.com, and star of the Food Network show, “The Pioneer Woman.” This thesis analyzes the rhetorical practices of Ree Drummond, as “The Pioneer Woman,” and how critics’ responses to this constructed persona have taken shape on blogging platforms. To conduct this analysis, I examined a variety of artifacts from Drummond’s public persona including her blog, cookbooks, television episodes, as well as YouTube videos of her public appearances and speaking engagements. I also analyzed the forums in which people respond to “The Pioneer Woman”; this includes op-eds on the Internet, blogs such as The Pioneer Woman Sux, commenting forums, and independent academic pieces such as a dissertation. Overall, this project discovered that blogging is a medium that people turn to for self-expression and community; a space in which ordinary people can feel a sense of belonging. Thus, the backlash surrounding the rhetorical practices of Ree Drummond suggests that critics do not identify with the Pioneer Woman persona that she is constructing because they do not recognize the text and images that Drummond conveys online and onscreen, as being congruent to their idea of what a “real” pioneer woman should look like. To express their feelings of “estrangement” as Kenneth Burke would say, critics utilize the “medium of ordinary people” in order to challenge whether Drummond’s representation of an extraordinary lifestyle is evidence of “real” country living. In questioning Drummond’s authenticity, critics’ comments suggest an inaccurate perception that the blogging genre is capable of revealing unfiltered reality, as well as an ambivalence about Drummond’s worthiness of the label “Pioneer Woman” due to historical perceptions of 19th century pioneer women as hardworking, manual laborers. However, it is unfair to compare Drummond to her frontier ancestors, as in this process critics dismiss her intellectual labor as a professional blogger. Therefore, ultimately, this works calls for a re-conceptualization of the definition of a pioneer, to acknowledge Drummond’s successful utilization of modern-day technological tools that resulted in a lucrative brand based off her lived experiences as a wife and mother living on a cattle ranch

Gertrude von Petzold (1876-1952): Quaker and First Woman Minister

Gertrude von Petzold was a pioneer in many ways: in England she was the first woman who got a post as a church minister, in Germany she was the first woman who qualified for a professorship in Germanics at Kiel University. At times when woman were not even allowed to vote, von Petzold pursued her academic career eagerly. Her ecumenical attitude resulted in membership within the Lutheran Church, the Unitarians and finally the Quakers

Winter Quarters

Mary Richard\u27s journals and letters record a young woman\u27s rare, but richly detailed view of life in the temporary Mormon pioneer communities in Iowa.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1094/thumbnail.jp

Margaret Fuller, critic

To many outside the literary field Margaret Fuller is known chiefly as a pioneer in the field of woman\u27s rights. In her era she risked scorn and ridicule in her deman that woman be given the same righs as man

Retired Faculty Member and Former S.C. Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence Dies

A pioneer as the second African-American woman to serve in the S.C. General Assembly from York County, Moody-Lawrence was the first and only Winthrop professor to serve as a state legislator

Anne O?Brien Papers

Photocopy of typed transcription of Anne O'Brien's reminiscences of settling in Leroy and Olga, N.D. area in 1879. This item was originally printed in the Cavalier County democrat. It mentions their move to North Dakota, moving from Olga to Langdon, N.D., includes names of various early pioneer families in the Olga, N.D. area, and mentions the murder of a woman pioneer, brief mention of Michael serving as Langdon sheriff and his death

Reimagining Learning: Resisting Assimilation and Racist Education

Using the text, Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America , I explore the ways Asian/Asian American immigrants resist assimilation and find ways to learn and teach that are not mediated by the racist, white supremacist state through formal education