After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region

Inspired by Obama’s inauguration, After Canaan is the first non-fiction book by acclaimed Vancouver poet Wayde Compton, which repositions the North American discussion of race in the wake of the tumultuous 20th century. After Canaan centres on the concept of Canada as a promised land (or ‘Canaan’) encoded in African American myth and song since the days of slavery. These varied essays explore the language of racial misrecognition, including the poetics of hip hop turntablism and the impact of the Obama phenomenon.