Tag Archives: neoliberalism

Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, and Social Justice

Social innovation and social entrepreneurship are hot topics nationally, internationally, and right here at home, at Laurier. But what do these terms really mean? There seem to be multiple definitions, depending on who it is you ask. As we increasingly embrace these concepts and approaches, we should be asking critical questions about for what and whom are we are innovating – and why. How are questions of power, inequality, social justice and human rights being addressed? Is social innovation a strategy for a better world? Or is it merely neoliberal agenda in disguise?

This year’s speakers will present alternative understandings of social innovation and social entrepreneurship, and offer critical perspectives in response to the question: “What are the connections and tensions between social innovation, social entrepreneurship, and social justice?”

Jessica Bolduc | October 20, 2015, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

“Intersections between Social Innovation and Indigenous Knowledge”

Jessica is Anishinaabe-French from Batchewana First Nation, ON and she is the National Youth Representative for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. She is also the Executive Director at 4Rs Youth Movement, a collaboration of 14 national organizations working with youth to create capacities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people to come together to cultivate understanding and action in support of a better future. In her community, Jessica works with other young leaders to foster arts-based economies, social infrastructure and hub spaces for change makers in Northern Ontario. In the future she is hoping these initiatives will be a catalyst in the development of a more sustainable place to call home by strengthening inclusion and capacity of under-appreciated communities such as youth and Indigenous nations.

See the full list of speakers…

From feudal to neoliberal: a historical look at Quebec’s agriculture and food regimes

Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems

Brown bag lunch and learn

Speaker: Dr. Manon Boulianne, Dept. of Anthropology, Université Laval

Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Time: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Where: P3027 – Peters Building, Wilfrid Laurier University
(School of Business and Economics, on the corner of University Ave and Albert St. in Waterloo)

From the 17^th to the first half of the 20^th century, petty commodity production was the modus operandi of an important part of Quebec’s family farms. During phases of industrial expansion, farm-born and raised young people flew to growing city centers. During economic depressions, new regions of colonization were opened in order to prevent French Canadians from leaving for New England, where they moved to find factory work. Commodification and specialization of farming developed after WW1, and by the middle of the 1960’s, modernization and standardization became the norm.

How do these changes relate to the transformation of the agri-food system, in the province and beyond? These questions will be addressed from a food regime perspective. Emphasis will be placed on how regional dynamics were influenced by the nation-states and corporate actors which have occupied a hegemonic position within different food regimes?

Fortnightly Feast vol. 20

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National Geographic asks “Where will we find enough food for 9 billion?”
Author Jonathan Foley presents a 5-step plan to feed the world.

Many outside Australia would perhaps be surprised that the country’s two big food retailers control 73% of the market. A Guardian story on how Australia’s food industry is shifting as small-scale producers chip away at the domination of major suppliers.

In “The Commons as a Template for Transformation“, David Bollier argues that, in the face of the deep pathologies of neoliberal capitalism, the commons paradigm can help us imagine and implement a transition to new decentralized systems of provisioning and democratic governance.

And finally, in “Neoliberalism and the making of food politics in Eastern Ontario“, authors (and Nourishing Communities researchers) Peter Andrée, Patricia Ballamingie and Brynne Sinclair-Waters argue that, while a ‘neoliberal lens’ helps to illuminate some problematic characteristics of community-based food initiatives in Eastern Ontario, “this lens underestimates those aspects of community-based food initiatives that may appear commensurate with neoliberal rationalities but which also push in more progressive directions.”