Books by Heather Murray

Asylum Ways of Seeing uncovers a patient culture within twentieth-century American psychiatric hospitals that did not just imbibe ideas from the outside world, but generated ones of their own. In illuminating seemingly resigned patients in these settings, it makes a call to reconsider the philosophical possibilities within resignation.

Among Friends: Travels in Cuba is a lively account of one person’s discovery of Cuba and Cubans over a decade-long series of visits. Murray falls in love with the country but never stops asking questions as her radius of exploration widens.With an eye for the telling details of daily life, Murray first savors the mixture of timeless beauty and decrepitude that defines Havana and then sets out for provinces to the west and east of the capital. We get to know Julian, her Cuban guide and friend; Magdalena, protective landlady and outspoken critic of the Castro regime; Ernesto, taxi driver and mountain guide, as well as a multitude of naïve North American tourists, Cuban English teachers, variously motivated tourist guides, octogenarian salsa dancers and perspiring bicitaxi drivers. Besides probing the Cuban psyche and describing its hardships, Murray’s explorations also highlight the unique scenery of Cuba, from the elegant center of old Havana to the mogotes of the Vinales valley, and from the pristine beaches of the northern keys to historic Trinidad and Cienfuegos and the Escambray mountains with their lakes, waterfalls and jungles. The book is accompanied by a website full of illustrative photographs and a travel blog (travelsincuba.weebly.com).A humorous and candid portrait of Cuba as it emerges from over half a century of privation and isolation, this book will appeal to armchair travelers, long-time Cuba fans and those who have yet to discover the island.

This is an analysis of English studies in higher education, addressed in particular to practitioners in the field - teachers and students. As Heather Murray states in her introduction, those who work in English are likely to have a stronger sense of critical history than of disciplinary history. She contends that, in order to understand and reform the discipline of English studies, it is necessary to shift the focus of examination 'down and back' - to look at ordinary and often taken-for-granted disciplinary practices (such as pedagogy), and to extend the historical frame. Murray begins with an examination of some important historical moments in the developments of the discipline in Canada: the appointment in 1889 of W.J. Alexander as first professor of English at the University of Toronto; the twenty-five-year experiment early in this century in rhetorical and dramatic education for women that the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression represented; and the entry of 'theory' into the English-Canadian academy. The second section examines some of the common features and routines of English departments, such as curriculum design, seminar groups, tests and assignments, essay questions, and the conference, in order to establish the critical/political principles that underpin study and teaching in the academy today. In this section, Murray also focuses on the role of women as students and teachers of English. The final section surveys the literature available for further research on the discipline and for constructing a history of English studies in Canada.Theory/Culture

Not in This Family shows how gays and their heterosexual parents both have animated each other's sensibilities, consciousness, and even culture and politics. Author Heather Murray suggests a reciprocal family life and complicates the notion of gay banishment.