The Experience of Dis-placed Communities: Mis-placed Educational Opportunities

Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has a long history of out-migration and internal migration between communities in coastal areas within the province. Resettlement programs initiated by the NL government between 1954 and 1975 accounted for the internal migration of approximately 30,000 people from 300 communities. Modern-day encounters with these abandoned communities are relevant to understanding the loss of place and home, as significant numbers of students in NL today are affected by migration. This dissertation is a phenomenological study of the experiences of educators as they explored the remnants of an abandoned community. The participants of the study were six experienced public school educators with teaching experience at the primary, elementary, intermediate, and secondary levels. The study took place in eight abandoned communities located on the western shore of Placentia Bay, where mainly the remnants of Isle Valen, St. Leonard’s, St. Kyran’s, and Great Paradise were explored. Data collection consisted of two personal interviews and one group hermeneutic circle, with the aim to answer one fundamental question: What is the experience of educators exploring the remnants of an abandoned community? Data in this study are represented by lived experience descriptions, which were interpreted hermeneutically and guided by four phenomenological existentials: temporality, corporeality, spatiality, and relationality. The most prominent themes emerging from the educators’ anecdotes were determined to be attunement, tension, and intensity. The results of this study not only provide deeper insight into communities abandoned through resettlement; they also reveal the significance of place in our lives, place as heuristic teacher, the pedagogical power of place, the need for local, meaningful place-based experiences in a curriculum as lived, and their potential for furthering personal and educational insight no matter where in this world we live or dwell.

The exclusive fishing zone for the artisanal fishery in Chocó Colombia: origins, development, and consequences for artisanal fisheries and food security.

Exclusive Fishing Zones (EFZs) are a type of place-based management tool often used to mitigate conflicts between fishing sectors by granting fishing rights to one of the sectors. This case study enhances our knowledge of the pre- and post-implementation processes associated with EFZs as well as its consequences for fish stocks and artisanal fishers and their families. The study draws upon interviews with artisanal fishers and key informants related to an EFZ established in 2008 in Colombia (the Chocó-EFZ). The findings of this research indicate that conflicts at sea and on land between artisanal and industrial fisheries triggered the Chocó-EFZ process. Results also show some potential benefits of the Chocó-EFZ including: a) mitigating conflicts between artisanal fishers and industrial shrimpers; b) contributing to the food security of artisanal fishing households and sustaining local fish stocks; c) supporting an existing informal community-based management as well as promoting the development of a co-management regime. Potential negative effects of the Chocó-EFZ include: a) displacement of industrial fishing effort and, b) job loss within the industrial shrimp industry. The findings of this research also indicate that there are multiple factors that jeopardize the effectiveness and continuation of the Chocó-EFZ, some of which include diversity of fisheries, power struggles among stakeholders, and disagreement about exclusive access to fish resources.