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Reviewed by:
  • Social Transformation in Rural Canada: Community, Cultures, and Collective Action ed. by John R. Parkins and Maureen G. Reed
  • Doug Ramsey
John R. Parkins and Maureen G. Reed, eds., Social Transformation in Rural Canada: Community, Cultures, and Collective Action (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press 2013)

This collection of essays edited by John Parkins and Maureen Reed makes a valuable contribution to understanding social change in rural Canada. It belongs next to volumes such as Rex Lucas’s seminal Minetown, Milltown, Railtown: Life in Canadian Communities of Single Industry (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971) and Roger Epp and Dave Whitson’s Writing off the Rural West: Globalization, Governments, and the Transformation of Rural Communities (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2001). The volume is logically organized into four sections: History, Trends, and Territory; Structure and Discourse; Culture and Identity; and Voice and Action. The authors selected for this volume cross the appropriate range of social sciences and stages of career. In achieving this, readers are provided with a range of approaches for analyzing and discussing the social dimension of change in rural settings that represents the resource sector diversity of rural Canada. Further, the format and style of each chapter stays true to the stated theme of the volume.

The introduction by Parkins and Reed begins with three community vignettes (Mackawic, New Brunswick; Craik, Saskatchewan; Valemont, British Columbia). The choice of vignettes was interesting and can be perhaps partially explained given the Canadian regions covered in the volume. This issue is discussed further at the end of this review. The introduction then provides a review of eight foundations for understanding social transformations. This is followed by a road map for the volume. One of the difficulties in pursuing a collection of papers is ascertaining section themes and then deciding which papers fit best within that them. Developing a volume that reflects the diversity of social issues and changes in rural Canada only adds to the complexity. Given the spatial and thematic diversity of topics in this volume, allocating chapters to sections would be no easy task.

The first section is themed “History, Trends, and Territory.” It includes three papers related to each of these aspects: history (rural Canada from 1870–1940), trends (recent immigration to rural and small town Canada), and territory (change and development in the Canadian north). While the smallest section, together the chapters provide the necessary historical context and address recent trends including immigration and development in remote Canada. One criticism relates to Chapter 1 in that the title is limiting. While suggesting the period of rural change to be discussed is 1870–1940, other time points (e.g. 1867, 1941) and periods (e.g. 1871–1976, 1940s, 1950s, etc.) are included.

Section Two (Structure and Discourse) includes six chapters that include most regions of Canada and very comprehensive examinations of the issues and processes affecting the structure and dynamics of rural Canada, including: rural-urban interdependence, labour mobility, globalization, gender relations, landscape change, resource management, and ageing. Together, the chapters provide the [End Page 361] reader with a solid foundation of forces and conditions of change in rural Canada.

The five chapters in Section Three (Culture and Identity) look at cultural-land relationships, community vision, resilience, identity, and resource restructuring. The cultural importance in rural Canada is often neglected but extremely important to understanding the will-power to stay in place. While the chapters are informative and well-written, it is unfortunate that three focus on British Columbia. While economic processes such as globalization and labour mobility are arguably ubiquitous in Canada, the cultural foundations to each province and territory are very distinct. The focus of change in single industry communities across rural Canada is perhaps the greatest strength of this volume.

The final section (Voice and Action) provides examples of strategy and response from the east and west of rural Canada. Of particular note is the chapter by Ross Nelson, Nancy Duxbury, and Catherine Murray. While focused on British Columbia, the authors draw upon other regions of Canada and elsewhere to present four strategies for cultural industry development: entrepreneurial, amenity, social, and ecological. Also included in this section is a postscript written...

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