The 'How' of Transformative Change: Stories from the Salish Sea Islands

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dc.contributor.authorWeller, Fay Elizabeth
dc.contributor.supervisorPrince, Michael J.
dc.contributor.supervisorMagnusson, Warren
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-20T20:38:29Z
dc.date.available2013-09-20T20:38:29Z
dc.date.copyright2013en_US
dc.date.issued2013-09-20
dc.degree.departmentInterdisciplinary Graduate Program
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Public Health and Social Policy
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Political Science
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation explores how transformative spaces and agency provide opportunities in everyday lives for transformative shifts from the dominant culture towards a culture of ecological decision-making. Stories about transformative change and system shifts, told by forty people involved in Canada’s Gulf Islands, form the basis for the findings. Their stories demonstrate how personal transformation leads to changed lifestyles and system shifts that reflect the interconnectedness between all living organisms. Two elements of the shift to ecological thinking are increased understanding of the natural world, and willingness to hear and empathise with other people’s realities. Change in communities is cumulative and unpredictable, mirroring personal transformation. Community self-governance is at the core of cultural shifts – the extent to which community members, with various purposes and realities, engage in empathetic dialogue. When interacting with governments and corporations, those who have shifted to ecological-thinking mode exercise their agency and respond according to their inner values. Factors that increase the likelihood of cultural shifts include: a) a multiplicity of different realities in the same space that create the opportunity for people to rethink their cultural box and see the arbitrariness of dominant norms, b) people exercising their agency rather than looking to government as authority, c) collective, non-hierarchical processes, and d) support and links to others in a network of symbiotic ecological-thinking nodes. The power in d) is the power of an accumulation of localisms that creates cultural shifts, arising from communities, which shifts society’s norms and behaviours.en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0329en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0615en_US
dc.description.proquestemailfayweller@shaw.caen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/4938
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectTransformativeen_US
dc.subjectChangeen_US
dc.subjectSalish Seaen_US
dc.subjectSpaceen_US
dc.subjectEmpathyen_US
dc.subjectEcologicalen_US
dc.subjectLocal economicsen_US
dc.titleThe 'How' of Transformative Change: Stories from the Salish Sea Islandsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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