A Bridge to Nowhere – Temporalities to Abandonment in Rural Canada : Temporalities to Abandonment in Rural Canada

This lyrical ethnography sheds light on the lives of people in remote settlements in Canada, exploring themes of memory and the lingering legacies of resource extraction and rural poverty.

Artfully written and meticulously crafted, A Bridge to Nowhere explores the lives of men and women in isolated settlements across Canada, examining how their experiences are shaped by memory, precarity, and poverty. Following men abandoned at remote rail sidings in western Canada and women left in rural settlements in northern New Brunswick, Donna Young presents a powerful and unflinching Canadian story that critically analyses how poverty is represented in anthropological studies. Based on research conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, this innovative ethnography centres each chapter on a specific place or individual, developing an analysis anchored in memory and relationality. Young deftly connects the precariousness of these communities to the extraction of primary resources in the twentieth century, while also addressing the gendered spaces and labour conditions that define their lives. In navigating the complex and often contradictory forces at play, the book engages with a storied loneliness set against rural landscapes and regional sensibilities. Weaving together social history, memory studies, and the anthropology of performance, A Bridge to Nowhere honours the emotional and social structures embedded in the landscape, capturing the intensity of precarious living.