Boyer, Leanna2009-09-092009-09-0920062009-09-09http://hdl.handle.net/1828/1745This thesis explores learning in and through the emergence of a network of communities who participated in the B.C. Coastal Eelgrass Stewardship Project (the Project). I draw on a two-year ethnographic investigation of 20 community groups who were trained to map and monitor eelgrass habitat and carry out education and stewardship-related activities. People from a multitude of backgrounds, including scientists and non-scientists, and a diversity of places, from small coastal communities to urban centers, worked towards the collective goal of mapping and conserving the extent of eelgrass habitat along the coast. Using cultural-historical activity theory, I develop an alternative framework for understanding learning and change in a network of communities. The collection of three main chapters, shows that learning, emergence, and stabilization of the network arose through the following dialectical relations: individual/collective, social/material, and agency/structure. This thesis shows that viewing and supporting the Project as a dynamic learning network makes it more stable.enAvailable to the World Wide Webconservationmarine resourcescitizen participationBritish ColumbiaUVic Subject Index::Humanities and Social Sciences::Education::Science--Study and teachingUVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Biology::OceanographyUVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Earth and Ocean Sciences::Environmental sciencesThesis