Free Podcast of a Walking Tour of 1960s Activist Montreal

In April and May of 2010, Sean Mills, the author of The Empire Within: Postcolonial Thought and Political Activism in Sixties Montreal, led walking tours of some of the places that were most important to 1960s and 70s Montreal's political history. By doing so, he brought to life the city's past and the subjects of his book, while showcasing the everyday urban historical sites that tend to be overlooked. Due to the success of the walks and the shared desire of MQUP and the author to make Montreal’s activist history available to a broader audience, we have recorded a podcast of the tour. We hope that this will encourage more interaction, knowledge, understanding, and discussion of Montreal’s lively urban history.

 

We encourage you to download the files below for free use on your portable MP3 player and go for a walk through Montreal’s past any time you like. You can listen to them on their own, too, but there’s nothing quite like moving slowly through Montreal and hearing about the sights and sounds around you. Tell your friends and colleagues and let us know what you think.

 

The walking tour points out and discusses among many other things:

 

-the restaurant where Pierre Vallières and Gaston Miron discussed poetry and revolution

 

-the site of Montreal's most important avant-garde cafés, where Jazz and poetry helped feed the climate of rebellion, and where intellectuals of many different stripes and backgrounds would meet and discuss with one another

 

-the influence of intellectuals from the developing world on political movements in

 

-the cooperative housing movement in Milton-Parc (McGill Ghetto) that resisted big commercial housing developments and gentrification efforts

 

-the route of the Opération McGill français protest - the most important demonstration up until that point since the Second World War

 

For a map of the stops on the walk, click here.

 

The stops are all marked with addresses and flagged on the map. Each stop corresponds to a matching MP3 file. The walking tour begins at Carré Saint-Louis (nearest metro station is Sherbrooke) and ends at McGill University’s Roddick Gates with stops in-between. At a leisurely pace, with frequent stops, it takes about an hour and a half. We hope you enjoy.

 

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 1, introduction

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 1, introduction

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 2

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 2

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 3

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 3

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop Number 4

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop Number 4

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop Number 5

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop Number 5

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop Number 5pt1

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop Number 5pt1

Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 6

Download Empire Within Walking Tour, Stop number 6

 

Sean Mills is currently a postdoctoral fellow at New York University and an active participant in the Montreal History Group. He completed his PhD at Queen’s University.

Comments

[Tsbble]

Any French version?

[Paul]

This is brilliant.