Bringing the Food Economy Home

Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness

Steven Gorelick, Todd Merrifield, Helena Norberg-Hodge

There has been much discussion about the quality of food being provided by global agribusiness and the serious environmental impact it produces. The benefits of fostering a local food production are often dismissed, but it would address a range of health, social and environmental problems. The authors argue if the trend of large agribusiness were thought about rather than accepted without question, then local food production would be seen as a viable means of supplementing this existing system.… (more information)

Community Organizing

A Holistic Approach

Joan Kuyek

From the Introduction: History is full of stories of the oppressed rebelling against the oppressor, only to reinstate an equally oppressive system. What we learn from oppression is how to oppress. If we want a truly transformative politics, then we must take up methods that embody the kind of world we want to create; we have to change deeply embedded beliefs and behaviours. In this engaging and passionate book, long-time community organizer Joan Kuyek offers important insights and… (more information)

Cultivating Utopia

Organic Farmers in a Conventional Landscape

Kregg Hetherington

This study begins with the questions “what draws people to become organic farmers?” and “why do so many leave farming in short order?” Organic farmers speak of a “wake-up call” or a moment, usually several years after buying and moving onto a farm, in which they question what they are doing and why. By most reports, most organic farmers then quit the field, or at least quit trying to farm commercially. The book examines what causes this wake-up call. One central… (more information)

Grassroots Leaders Building Skills

The Henson College Certificate in Community Development

Anne Bishop

“Empowerment is the word. I’ve been forced to break out of my own circle and see more. I have a direction now in my community, more involvement in activism.”—student evaluating the Henson College Certificate in Community Development. This course was designed to sharpen social analysis and develop skills in leaders of low-income and marginalized communities in Nova Scotia. Taught by two experienced community workers and funded by two major Canadian foundations, it graduated… (more information)

Jobs of Our Own

Building a Stakeholder Society

Race Matthews

”In Britain, Canada, Spain and Australia, there have been ongoing efforts to develop and alternative and kinder wasy of doing business-a Middle Way-dating back to and beyond the opening of this century. Race Matthews has uncovered a fascinating and unexpected linkage between these apparently unconnected reform movements. Are these the roots of a 21st century renaissance?”-Father Greg MacLeod, community economic activist, founder of New Dawn Enterprises and author of From Mondragon to… (more information)

Mining Town Crisis

Globalization, Labour and Resistance in Sudbury

Edited by David Leadbeater

Sudbury is the largest hardrock mining centre in North America and among the largest in the world. Given the enormous mineral wealth that exists in the Sudbury Basin, one might think that prosperity would abound and that cultural, educational, health and social-welfare institutions would be of the highest order, existing within a well-maintained and attractive physical infrastructure. But this is not the Sudbury that people know. This book explores key aspects of Sudbury’s economic, health… (more information)

Recasting Steel Labour

The Stelco Story

June Corman, D.W. Livingstone, Meg Luxton, Wally Secombe

This is a local study of steelworkers employed at, or aid off from, Stelco’s Hilton Works in Hamilton, Ontario. This local study has been situated in the context of the global restructuring of capitalism. The authors content that more than ever before the dynamics of the whole world economy limit and shape the actions of its past – a process referred to as “globalizing the local.” Restructuring is taking place in response to global demands. As the global net tighten,… (more information)

Research for Social Justice

A Community-Based Approach

Karen Schwartz, Adje van de Sande

Most social work research texts are written from an empiricist and positivist perspective, emphasizing the scientific method and the value of objectivity in research. While acknowledging that certain aspects of the scientific method should be preserved, Adje van de Sande and Karen Schwartz argue that social work research should not be value-free. Social work is committed to social justice and social change, and social work research needs to support that commitment. Research for Social Justice examines… (more information)

Something’s Wrong Somewhere

Globalization, Community and the Moral Economy of the Farm Crisis

Christopher Lind

“Recalling the fascinating history of rural protests in seventeenth to nineteenth century England, (Lind) argues that today’s crisis has as much to do with morals and ethics as with economics.”–Kim Cariou, People’s Voice (more information)

Thin Ice

Money, Politics and the Demise of an NHL Franchise

Jim Silver

Thousands of Winnipegers rallied on the streets while corporate businessmen fought each other behind closed doors. Information was manipulated. Arms were twisted. Politicians capitulated. Adults wept on open-line radio shows. Children broke open their piggy banks. This was the campaign to keep the NHL’s Jets from leaving Winnipeg. The book is about hockey, but it is not about The Game. It is about the business of hockey and how changes in this business are threatening the games survival in… (more information)

Transforming or Reforming Capitalism

Towards a Theory of Community Economic Development

Edited by John Loxley

Growing worldwide interest in community economic development has led to a blossoming of “how to” manuals,as well as analyses of co-operatives, development corporations, gender, financing, etc. Yet in all this discussion very little is said about the basic objective of CED: Is it designed to fill holes left by capitalism or is it intended to replace it? There is equally little on a theory of CED. This book draws on several disciplines—particularly economics, sociology and political… (more information)

Voices of Nova Scotia Community

A Written Democracy

Scott Milsom

From Birchtown and Harbourville, Kennetcook and Oxford, Lincolnville and Orangedale, these stories explore why the people of small communities across Nova Scotia value the quality of life they enjoy. The author ensures that it is the voices of the people who live in these communities that ring truest, allowing both neighbours and those visiting for the first time a better understanding of life in rural and small-town Nova Scotia. “The plain-spoken, visionary journalist Scott Milsom reminds… (more information)

Women Fishes These Days

Brenda Grzetic

As the fisheries have dramatically changed in Newfoundland and Labrador, so has the work and learning experiences of women fishers. Restructuring, work and learning are not gender neutral. Women Fishes These Days explores women’s lives in the restructured fishery, their workload and work responsibilities, work relations, professionalization and training. It also, through a series of interviews with women fishers, looks at the impact on their identity, their autonomy and, particularly, their… (more information)