PhD Oral Defence: More powerful together: collaborative theorizing with social movements about decolonizing and decarbonizing Canada
PhD Oral Defence of Jennifer Gobby, Natural Resource Sciences
Scholarly literature offers ample information and analysis about the social and ecological crises that humanity currently faces, and it also provides compelling alternatives and solutions to strive for. What is less understood, is how we get from here to there - from the crises to the solutions. This research project asks: how can social movements help bring about large-scale systems change? I have been working with people in the climate justice, Indigenous land defence, and anti-pipeline movements across Canada to shed light on this question. Guided by grounded theory methodology, theories and perspectives were gathered through participant observation, in depth interviews, and surveys. Woven through with scholarly literature on social transformation, this thesis contributes timely insight about how change happens.