Retrenchment And Regeneration In Rural Newfoundland

Set against the background of momentous economic changes over the last decade, Retrenchment and Regeneration in Rural Newfoundland examines the economic, political, and social circumstances that have led to the current crisis in rural Newfoundland. In this timely collection, ten social scientists explore how outporters are coping with uncertainty, the choices that they are now confronting, and the consequences of these choices in terms of their capacity to sustain livelihoods into the next generation and beyond. Offering both general overviews and specific case studies drawn from recent research, Retrenchment and Regeneration in Rural Newfoundland provides insight into the moral and political economy of Newfoundland, the background to the collapse of the fish stocks, and the effects of the crisis on outporter's occupational choices and migration decisions. Rich in detail and thought-provoking ideas, this collection is the first to examine the interconnected problems and opportunities in rural Newfoundland in light of global economic and social changes.

The rapidly changing nature of life in Canadian rural communities is more than a simple response to economic conditions. People living in rural places are part of a new social agenda characterized by transformation of livelihoods, landscapes, and social relations – these profound changes invite us to reconsider the meanings of community, culture, and citizenship. Social Transformation in Rural Canada presents the work of researchers from a variety of fields who explore the dynamics of social transformation in rural settlements across several regions and sectors of the Canadian landscape. This volume provides a nuanced portrait of how local forms of action, adaptation, identity, and imagination are reshaping aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities in rural Canada. Unlike many previous studies, this work looks at rural communities not simply as places affected by external forces, but as incubators of change and social units with agency and purpose, many of which provide exemplary models for other communities facing challenges of transition.

This book is endorsed by Dr. Clar Doyle in his preface to this book. Dr. Doyle is very well known locally. This book is about the contemporary life of grandparents in Newfoundland and Labrador – a geographically isolated and culturally unique rural region of Canada. The book can be used for courses in the areas of critical social work, family studies, gerontology, nursing, rural development, critical pedagogy, and diaspora studies. Clar Doyle, Professor of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and member of the Founding Scholars Advisory Board, The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy. “This book offers a platform not only to look in on the lives of vital grandparents but paints, in broad strokes, a mural of coming, changing, as well as challenging cultural and social settings.... In what the astute editors ....call “small nuanced studies” we find telling narratives of generational connections in the face of changing and challenging odds....This book does a great service to the concept of diaspora, as well as to the changing nature of that concept... This book elevates the status of grandparents by positioning them as vital members of a complex and challenging society where their skills, gifts, and sheer presence are most formative.... As is strongly advocated in this book, it is essential that educators, curriculum developers, and teachers appreciate the place of grandparents in their students’ lives.”

This book arose from the need to develop accessible research-based case study material which addresses contemporary issues and problems in the rapidly evolving field of human ecology. Academic, political, and, indeed, public interest in the environmental sciences is on the rise. This is no doubt spurred by media coverage of climate change and global warming and attendant natural disasters such as unusual drought and flood conditions, toxic dust storms, pollution of air and water, and the like. But there is also a growing intellectual awareness of the social causes of anthropogenic environmental impacts, political vectors in determining conser- tion outcomes, and the role of local representations of ecological knowledge in resource management and sustainable yield production. This is reflected in the rapid increase of ecology courses being taught at leading universities in the fa- growing developing countries much as was the case a decade or two ago in Europe and North America. The research presented here is all taken from recent issues of Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Since the journal itself is a leading forum for cont- porary research, the articles we have selected represent a cross-section of work which brings the perspectives of human ecology to bear on current problems being faced around the world. The chapters are organized in such a way to facilitate the use of this volume either to teach a course or to introduce an informed reader to the field.

Out-migration, driven by high unemployment and a floundering economy, has been a defining aspect of Newfoundland society for well over a century, and it reached new heights with the cod moratorium in 1992. This Newfoundland “diaspora” has had a profound impact on the province’s literature. Many writers and scholars have referred to Newfoundland out-migration as a diaspora, but few have examined the theoretical implications of applying this contested term to a predominantly inter-provincial movement of mainly white, economically motivated migrants. The Newfoundland Diaspora argues that “diaspora” helpfully references the painful displacement of a group whose members continue to identify with each other and with the “homeland.” It examines important literary works of the Newfoundland diaspora, including the poetry of E.J. Pratt, the drama of David French, the fiction of Donna Morrissey and Wayne Johnston, and the memoirs of David Macfarlane. These works are the sites of a broad inquiry into the theoretical flashpoints of affect, diasporic authenticity, nationalism, race, and ethnicity. The literature of the Newfoundland diaspora both contributes to and responds to critical movements in Canadian literature and culture, querying the place of regional, national, and ethnic affiliations in a literature drawn along the borders of the nation-state. This diaspora plays a part in defining Canada even as it looks beyond the borders of Canada as a literary community.

This book brings together the work of over twenty-five researchers to provide a comparative and empirically rich portrait of community forestry policy and practice in Canada. Tackling all forestry regions from Newfoundland to British Columbia, it unearths the history of community forestry across the nation, demonstrating strong regional differences tied to patterns of policy-making and cultural traditions. Case studies reveal innovative practices in governance and ecological management but also uncover challenges related to government support and market access. This book also considers the future of the sector, including the role of institutional reform, multiscale networks, and adaptive management strategies.

Transforming Provincial Politics is the first province-by-province analysis of politics and political economy in more than a decade, and the first to directly examine the turn to neoliberal policies at the provincial and territorial level and examines how neoliberal policies have affected politics in each jurisdiction in Canada.

Like their counterparts in developing countries, rural people living on the periphery of developed nations are increasingly vulnerable to forces beyond their control. Farmers, miners, and fishermen must cope with periodic resource scarcities, fluctuating global markets, and neoliberal trade pacts. Island Voices explores this struggle through the perspective of people living on Arnøya, an island off northern Norway. John C. Kennedy spent years collecting their stories, each of which offers resounding proof of how change, both local and global, has unevenly benefited the island's four villages.