Social Transformation in Rural Canada
Social Transformation in Rural Canada
Community, Cultures, and Collective Action
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, looking at them not simply as places affected by external forces, but as incubators of change and social units with agency and purpose.
In a break with a common approach to this issue, the authors pay attention to such factors as local forms of action, adaptation, identity, and imagination in examining the ways in which rural life in Canada – including within Aboriginal communities – is changing. Mobility, leadership, and the arts are among the issues that figure in these stories of transformation, and many open a window onto parts of rural Canada that are providing exemplary models for other communities. The book’s case studies, drawn from various regions of Canada including the far North, present a rich and diverse portrait of a country undergoing tremendous change that affects people from all walks of life.
Students, scholars, and community workers will find this book an invaluable resource for understanding the changing nature of life in Canada’s numerous and diverse rural communities.
Social Transformation in Rural Canada provides a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and events that have contributed to the present transformation of the Canadian rural sector. The volume clearly stands out from the crowd, introducing a range of valuable perspectives and arguments that will contribute to the development of the field.
This book examines how contemporary rural people shape their collective lives even in difficult circumstances. It tells stories about real, complex rural places, and will be a standard reference for scholars, university students, and community advocates.
John R. Parkins is an associate professor in the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology at the University of Alberta. Maureen G. Reed is a professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability and the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan.
Contributors: Marilyn Baptiste, Darin Barney, Jonaki Bhattacharyya, Ryan Bullock, Christopher Bryant, Ken J. Caine, Emily Jane Davis, Nancy Duxbury, Greg Halseth, Lorelei L. Hanson, Carol-Anne Hudson, Belinda Leach, Don Manson, Martha MacDonald, Catherine Murray, Ross Nelson, Howard Ramos, Bill Reimer, Laura Ryser, Ruth Wells Sandwell, David Setah, Peter Sinclair, Chris Southcott, Mark C.J. Stoddart, Deatra Walsh, Roger William, Yoko Yoshida, and Nathan Young
Introduction: Toward a Transformative Understanding of Rural Social Change / John R. Parkins and Maureen G. Reed
Part 1: History, Trends, and Territory
1 Notes toward a History of Rural Canada, 1870-1940 / R.W. Sandwell
2 Globalization and Rural Change in Canada’s Territorial North / Chris Southcott
3 Destination Rural Canada: An Overview of Recent Immigrants to Rural Small Towns / Yoko Yoshida and Howard Ramos
Part 2: Structure and Discourse
4 Rural-Urban Interdependence: Understanding Our Common Interests / Bill Reimer
5 Labour Migration and Mobility in Newfoundland: SocialTransformation and Community in Three Rural Areas / Martha MacDonald, Peter Sinclair, and Deatra Walsh
6 Producing Globalization: Gender, Agency, and the Transformation of Rural Communities of Work / Belinda Leach
7 Changes in the Social Imaginings of the Landscape: The Management of Alberta’s Rural Public Lands / Lorelei L. Hanson
8 Logic of Land and Power: The Social Transformation of Northern Natural Resource Management / Ken J. Caine
9 Including Youth in an Aging Rural Society: Reflections from Northern British Columbia’s Resource Frontier
Communities / Laura Ryser, Don Manson, and Greg Halseth
Part 3: Culture and Identity
10 It’s Who We Are: Locating Cultural Strength in Relationship with the Land / Jonaki Bhattacharyya, Marilyn Baptiste, David Setah, and Roger William
11 Visions of Rootedness and Flow: Remaking Economic Identity in Post-Resource Communities / Nathan Young
12 Governing Transformation and Resilience: The Role of Identity in Renegotiating Roles for Forest-Based
Communities of British Columbia’s Interior / Emily Jane Davis and Maureen G. Reed
13 Mill Town Identity Crisis: Reframing the Culture of Forest Resource Dependence in Single-Industry Towns / Ryan Bullock
14 The Social Transformation of Agriculture: The Case of Quebec / Christopher Bryant
Part 4: Voice and Action
15 “That’s No Way to Run a Railroad”: The Battle River Branchline and the Politics of Technology in Rural
Alberta / Darin Barney
16 “It’s the Largest, Remotest, Most Wild, Undisturbed Area in the Province”: Outdoor Sport and Environmental
Conflict in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, Nova Scotia / Mark C.J. Stoddart
17 Newfoundland and Labrador’s Poverty Reduction Strategy: The Transformation of Government–Rural
Community Relations, 1999-2009 / Carol-Anne Hudson
18 Cultural and Creative Economy Strategies for Community Transformation: Four Approaches / Ross Nelson, Nancy Duxbury, and Catherine Murray
Postscript: The Future of Rural Studies in Canada / John R. Parkins and Maureen G. Reed
The Proposal Economy
Neoliberal Citizenship in “Ontario’s Most Historic Town”
By Pamela Stern and Peter Hall
