<p>On 13 December 1948, a ship carrying 347 Estonian refugees fleeing<br>Soviet rule arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax. Tired, weary, and anxious,<br>the refugees received a warm general welcome, and journalists praised<br>them as the type of immigrants Canada both wanted and needed -- white,<br>northern, and anti-Communist. Although the passengers of the SS<br><i>Walnut</i> appeared to experience little prejudice as they<br>adjusted to life in Canada, their self-identification as refugees and<br>their traumatic memories were no less fraught than others who had<br>experienced forced migration. </p><br><br><p> </p><br><br><p>In <i>Photography, Memory, and Refugee Identity,</i><br>anthropologist Lynda Mannik analyzes the refugee experience through the<br>photographic record of those who made that harrowing voyage more than<br>sixty years ago. Drawing on a collection of photographs taken during<br>the voyage and at Pier 21, Mannik asks surviving passengers to describe<br>their migration, their reception in Canada, and their feelings about<br>the terms refugee and boat person. She explores to what extent the<br>photos reflect the refugees' experiences as they remember them<br>and how those experiences compare with representations of refugees in<br>news media, in government rhetoric, and at the Pier 21 Museum in<br>Halifax. Ultimately, Mannik demonstrates that the photographs in the<br>Walnut collection bear witness to the refugee experience even as the<br>meanings attached to them have changed over time and in shifting<br>contexts.</p><p><b>Lynda Mannik</b> is a visiting assistant professor in the<br>Department of Anthropology at Memorial University.