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Distributed for Athabasca University Press

Icon, Brand, Myth

The Calgary Stampede

An investigation of the meanings and iconography of the Stampede, an invented tradition that takes over the city of Calgary for 10 days every July. Since 1923, archetypal “Cowboys and Indians” are seen again at the chuckwagon races, on the midway, and throughout Calgary. Each essay in this collection examines a facet of the experience—from the images on advertising posters to the ritual of the annual parade. This study of the Calgary Stampede as a social phenomenon reveals the history and sociology of the city of Calgary and the social construc-tion of identity for western Canada as a whole.

352 pages | © 2008

Sport and Recreation


Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1  The Stampede in Historical Context / Max Foran

2  Making Tradition: The Calgary Stampede, 1912–1939 / Donald G. Wetherell

3  The Indians and the Stampede / Hugh A. Dempsey

4  Calgary’s Parading Culture Before 1912 / Lorry W. Felske

5   Midway to Respectability: Carnivals at the Calgary Stampede / Fiona Angus

6  More Than Partners: The Calgary Stampede and the City of Calgary / Max Foran

7  Riding Broncs and Taming Contradictions: Reflections on the Uses of the Cowboy in the Calgary Stampede / Tamara Palmer Seiler

8  A Spurring Soul: A Tenderfoot’s Guide to the Calgary Stampede Rodeo / Glen Mikkelsen

9  The Half a Mile of Heaven’s Gate / Aritha van Herk

10  “Cowtown It Ain’t”: The Stampede and Calgary’s Public Monuments / Frits Pannekoek

11  “A Wonderful Picture”: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede / Brian Rusted

12  The Social Construction of the Canadian Cowboy: Calgary Exhibitions and Stampede Posters, 1952–1972 / Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler

13  Renewing the Calgary Stampede for the 21st Century: A Conversation with Vern Kimball, Stampede Chief Executive Officer

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

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