Searching for Serafim

By (author): Ruby Smith Diaz

The life and legacy of Serafim “Joe” Fortes, a trailblazing Black lifeguard, who became a cultural icon in a racist society

Searching for Serafim is a layered exploration of the life of Vancouver’s first lifeguard, Serafim “Joe” Fortes. A Trinidad native who arrived on the shores of Canada in 1885, Fortes was heralded as a hero in Vancouver for saving dozens of people from drowning, and his funeral drew the largest crowd ever recorded in the city’s history. Since his passing, Fortes has been commemorated with a Canada Post-issued stamp and local buildings named in his honour. Yet, little has been discussed about how he navigated an openly white supremacist society as an Afro Latino man.

In Searching for Serafim, author Ruby Smith Diaz seeks to unravel the complicated legacy of a local legend to learn more about who Fortes was as a person. She draws from historical documents to form an insightful critique of the role that settler colonialism and anti-Black racism played in Fortes’s publicized story and reconstructs his life, from over a century later, through a contemporary Black perspective, weaving poetry and personal reflections alongside archival research.

The result is a moving and thought-provoking book about displacement, identity, and dignity. Searching for Serafim conjures a new side to one of Vancouver’s most beloved – and misunderstood – public figures.

With black-and-white photos.

AUTHOR

Ruby Smith Diaz

Ruby Smith Diaz is an Afro Latina multidisciplinary artist, educator, and award-winning body-positive personal trainer. Her experiences growing up in a migrant, poor, single-parent family in amiskwaciy (Edmonton, AB) have inspired her to dedicate her life’s work to exploring and addressing issues of equity and social justice. Ruby currently resides on the unceded territories of the Stz’uminus peoples (Ladysmith, BC).


Reviews

Gorgeously layered Ruby Smith Diazs Searching for Serafim deftly interweaves the remarkable life of Serafim Fortes with a powerful interrogation of the conditions structuring Black diasporic life in Canada Robyn Maynard author of Policing Black Lives and coauthor of Rehearsals for Living



Searching for Serafim is an exquisitely written book about a figure both emblematic and enigmatic Ruby Smith Diaz powerfully illuminates both the necessity and limits of archival research recovering Black life from white celebration and critically reimagining a past that speaks to the urgencies of our present and future David Chariandy author of Brother and Soucouyant



We have been waiting a century for this book for Ruby Smith Diaz to honour and appreciate Serafim Joe Fortes a man who carried a citys authoritarian affection on his shoulders Using diverse forms and modes of discourse from deeply researched biography to engaged personal narrative to lucid poetry Searching for Serafim is quite simply the single most important work on Fortes and a stunning contribution to the literature of Vancouver This is the book to remember him by and through which we might understand how Blackness can survive and resonate on these shores Wayde Compton author of The Outer Harbour



This is a book of astounding artistry anchored in the rigorous and worldbuilding genealogy of the Black feminist radical tradition In Searching for Serafim Diaz honours the life and legacy not only of Serafim Fortes but of Black and Indigenous ancestors on these lands and daylights transnational struggles against empire and white supremacy over five centuries This mustread book skillfully weaves archives narrative and poetry while calling on us to imagine our lives and liberation anew Harsha Walia author of Border and Rule Global Migration Capitalism and the Rise of Racist Nationalism



The legacy of Serafim Fortes is immense and Ruby Smith Diaz is to be commended for bringing to light this multilayered history by documenting the crucial role Fortes played in early twentiethcentury Vancouvers development In Searching for Serafim Diaz places Fortes at the centre of Black BC history sharing his riveting transnational story and how he changed British Columbia Afua Cooper professor of Black and womens history University of Toronto



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Details

Dimensions:

144 Pages
9.00in * 6.00in * .35in
225.00gr

Published:

January 28, 2025

Publisher:

Arsenal Pulp Press

ISBN:

9781551529752

Language:

eng

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