Overview

Abstract (English)

The rapidly changing nature of life in Canadian rural communities is more than a simple response to economic conditions. People who live in rural places are part of a new social agenda characterized by the 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 also as incubators of change and social units with agency and purpose. In a break from a common approach to this issue, the authors pay attention to such factors as local forms of action, adaptation, identity, and imagination as they examine how 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, stories that open a window onto parts of rural Canada that are providing exemplary models for other communities. These 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.

Abstract (French)

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