Uniting Struggles

Critical Social Research in Critical Times (Alternate Routes 2012) Special 25th Anniversary Edition

Edited by Carlo Fanelli, Priscillia Lefebvre

With the reverberations of the Great Recession still wreaking havoc throughout much of the world, this issue of Alternate Routes brings together articles based on their dedication to critical social research in critical times. Includes interventions by Naom Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Sut Jhally, Garry Potter, Michael Perelman and Pat Armstrong. (more information)

Ocean Ranger

Remaking the Promise of Oil

Susan Dodd

On February 15, 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland taking the entire crew of eighty-four men — including the author’s brother — down with it. It was the worst sea disaster in Canada since the Second World War, but the memory of this event gradually faded into a sad story about a bad storm — relegated to the “Extreme Weather” section of the CBC archives. Susan Dodd resurrects this disaster from the realm of “history&rdquo… (more information)

Palestinians in Israel

Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy

Ben White

Palestinians in Israel considers a key issue ignored by the official ‘peace process’ and most mainstream commentators: that of the growing Palestinian minority within Israel itself. What the Israeli right-wing calls ‘the demographic problem’ Ben White identifies as ‘the democratic problem’ which goes to the heart of the conflict. Israel defines itself not as a state of its citizens, but as a Jewish state, despite the substantial and increasing Palestinian population… (more information)

Decolonizing Methodologies

2nd edition

Linda Tuhiwai Smith

To the colonized, the term ‘research’ is conflated with colonialism; academic research steeped in imperialism remains a painful reality. This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research–specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as ‘regimes of truth.’ Concepts such as ‘discovery’ and ‘claiming’ are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research… (more information)

Healthy Society

How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy

Ryan Meili

Drawing on his experiences as a family physician in the inner city of Saskatoon, Mozambique, and rural Saskatchewan, Dr. Meili argues that health delivery too often focuses on treatment of immediate causes and ignores more fundamental conditions that lead to poor health. Income, education, employment, housing, the wider environment, and social supports: far more than the actions of physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, it is these conditions that make the greatest difference in our… (more information)

About Canada Queer Rights

Peter Knegt

Is Canada a ”queer utopia”? Canada was the fourth country in the world — and the first in the Western Hemisphere — to legalize same-sex marriage. Queer people in Canada enjoy many of the same legal rights as heterosexuals, and social acceptance of homosexuality has grown exponentially. But are these the goals that queer activists hoped to achieve? Is this legal regulation and normalization of homosexuality what the Gay Liberation Movement of the early 1970s fought for? Using… (more information)

About Canada Media

Peter Steven

Canada enjoys a long-held reputation for producing high-quality media, from National Film Board documentaries to the CBC to children’s programming. But in recent years, funding cuts, commercial media concentration and a sour political environment have been steadily eroding this reputation. In About Canada: Media, Peter Steven examines developments in film, television, the internet and newspapers and finds that the quality of our news and entertainment media is steadily declining, as well as… (more information)

Viva

Community Arts and Popular Education in the Americas

Deborah Barndt

With examples from community arts projects in five countries, this collection will inform and inspire students, artists, and activists. ¡VIVA! is the product of a five-year transnational research project that integrates place, politics, passion, and praxis. Learn from Central America: Kuna children’s art workshops, a community television station in Nicaragua, a cultural marketplace in Guadalajara, Mexico, community mural production in Chiapas; and from North America: arts education… (more information)

Global Minotaur

America, the True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the future of the World Economy

Yanis Varoufakis

In this remarkable and provocative book, Yanis Varoufakis explodes the myth that financialization, ineffectual regulation of banks, greed and globalization were the root causes of the global economic crisis. Rather, they are symptoms of a much deeper malaise which can be traced all the way back to the Great Crash of 1929, then on through to the 1970s: the time when a ‘Global Minotaur’ was born. Just as the Athenians maintained a steady flow of tributes to the Cretan beast, so the &lsquo… (more information)

African Sexualities

A Reader

Edited by Sylvia Tamale

This groundbreaking volume, the first of its kind written by African activists themselves, aims to inspire a new generation of students and teachers to study, reflect and gain fresh and critical insights into the complex issues of gender and sexuality. It opens a space – particularly for young people – to think about African sexualities in different ways. This accessible but scholarly multidisciplinary text, from a distinctly African perspective, is built around themed sections each… (more information)

Earth Grab

The Rise of Geopiracy, The New Biomassters and Capturing Climate Genes

Diana Bronson, Hope Shand, Jim Thomas, Kathy Jo Wetter

’Geopiracy’ analyses how Northern governments and corporations are cynically using growing concerns about the ecological and climate crisis to propose geoengineering ‘quick fixes’. These threaten to wreak havoc on ecosystems, with disastrous impacts on the people of the global South. As calls for a ‘greener’ economy mount and oil prices escalate, corporations are seeking to switch from oil-based to plant-based energy. ’The New Biomassters’ exposes… (more information)

State of Islam

Culture and Cold War Politics in Pakistan

Saadia Toor

The State of Islam tells the story of Pakistan through the lens of the Cold War, and more recently the War on Terror, to shed light on the domestic and international processes behind the global rise of militant Islam. Unlike existing scholarship on nationalism, Islam and the state in Pakistan, which tends to privilege events in a narrowly-defined ‘political’ realm, Saadia Toor highlights the significance of cultural politics in Pakistan from its origins to the contemporary… (more information)

Community Organizing

A Holistic Approach

Joan Kuyek

“History is full of stories of the oppressed rebelling against the oppressor, only to reinstate an equally oppressive system. What we learn from oppression is how to oppress. If we want a truly transformative politics, then we must take up methods that embody the kind of world we want to create; we have to change deeply embedded beliefs and behaviours.” (from the Introduction) In this engaging and passionate book, long-time community organizer Joan Kuyek offers important insights… (more information)

Postcolonial Sovereignty

The Nisga’a Final Agreement

Tracy Lea Scott

In 1999 the Nisga’a First Nation in Northwestern British Columbia signed a landmark agreement which not only settled their land claim but outlined significant powers that could be exercised by its government. This book analyzes the impact the agreement has on federal/provincial/First Nations relations, but also in a concise manner examines the major terms of the agreement. The author summarizes the settlement and, more importantly, the powers over land, resources, education, and cultural policy… (more information)

Arab Spring

Delayed Defiance and the End of Postcolonialism

Hamid Dabashi

This pioneering explanation of the Arab Spring will define a new era of thinking about the Middle East. In this landmark book, Hamid Dabashi argues that the revolutionary uprisings that have engulfed multiple countries and political climes from Morocco to Iran and from Syria to Yemen, were driven by a ‘Delayed Defiance’–a point of rebellion against domestic tyranny and globalized disempowerment alike that signifies no less than the end of Postcolonialism. Sketching a new geography… (more information)

Racialized Policing

Aboriginal People’s Encounters With the Police

Elizabeth Comack

Policing is a controversial subject, generating considerable debate. One issue of concern has been “racial profiling” by police, that is, the alleged practice of targeting individuals and groups on the basis of “race.” Racialized Policing argues that the debate has been limited by its individualized frame. As well, the concen- tration on police relations with people of colour means that Aboriginal people’s encounters with police receive far less scrutiny. Going beyond… (more information)

Research for Social Justice

A Community Based Approach

Karen Schwartz, Adje van de Sande

Most social work research texts are written from an empiricist and positivist perspective, emphasizing the scientific method and the value of objectivity in research. While acknowledging that certain aspects of the scientific method should be preserved, Adje van de Sande and Karen Schwartz argue that social work research should not be value-free. Social work is committed to social justice and social change, and social work research needs to support that commitment. Research for Social Justice examines… (more information)

How Societies Work

Class, Power and Change, 5th Edition

Joanne Naiman

In 2011, protesters around the world — including Canada — called for changes to the societies in which they live. Many observers were asking: “What do they want?” Some answers to this question can be found in How Societies Work, a unique and accessible introductory sociology textbook that introduces students to the structure of contemporary societies and the power relationships within them. In contrast to most introductory textbooks, How Societies Work explores a broad range… (more information)

Power and Resistance 5th ed.

Critical Thinking About Canadian Social Issues

Edited by Wayne Antony, Les Samuelson

How do we make sense of the social problems such as poverty, economic collapse, violence, homophobia and pollution that continue to plague Canadian society? From the neoliberal perspective all of these issues come down to individual choice and action, but from the critical perspective social issues emerge from inequalities — disparities in access to housing, education, healthcare and wealth, for example — and inequalities emerge from relations of power. Some groups of people have privileged… (more information)

Oppression

A Social Determinant of Health

Elizabeth A. McGibbon

Oppression and health are intricately connected. A recent emphasis on the social determinants of health has focused attention on the “causes of the causes” of ill health, including systemic forces such as capitalism, globalization, imperialism, medicalization, neo-colonialism and neoliberalism. If we are to change the oppressive practices that cause ill health our analysis must consistently and explicitly integrate these systemic forces and thus reframe growing health inequities within… (more information)

Capitalism: A Structural Genocide

Garry Leech

In the wake of the global financial crisis, and ongoing savage government cuts across the world, Garry Leech addresses a pressing and necessary topic: the nature of contemporary capitalism, and how it inherently generates inequality and structural violence. Drawing on a number of fascinating case studies from across the world–including the forced displacement of farmers in Mexico, farmer suicides in India, and deaths from preventable and treatable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well… (more information)

Lester Pearson’s Peacekeeping

The Truth May Hurt

Yves Engler

Lester Pearson is one of Canada’s most important political figures. A Nobel Peace laureate, he is considered a great peacekeeper and ‘honest broker.’ But in this critical examination of his work, Pearson is exposed as an ardent cold warrior who backed colonialism and apartheid in Africa, Zionism, coups in Guatemala, Iran and Brazil and the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic. A beneficiary of U.S. intervention in Canadian political affairs, he also provided important… (more information)

Disability Politics and Theory

A.J. Withers

An accessible introduction to disability studies, Disability Politics and Theory provides a concise survey of disability history, exploring the concept of disability as it has been conceived from the late 19th century to the present. Further, A.J. Withers examines when, how and why new categories of disability are created and describes how capitalism benefits from and enforces disabled people’s oppression. Critiquing the model that currently dominates the discipline, the social model of disability… (more information)

Activist’s Handbook

Aidan Ricketts

’The Activists’ Handbook’ is a powerful guide to grassroots activism. A priceless resource for everyone ready to make a difference, environmental activist Aidan Ricketts offers a step-by-step handbook for citizens eager to start or get involved in grass-roots movements and beyond. Providing all essential practical tools, methods and strategies needed for a successful campaign and extensively discussing legal and ethical issues, this book empowers its readers to effectively… (more information)

Reconsidering Knowledge

Feminism and the Academy

Edited by Meg Luxton, Mary Jane Mossman

How has feminist thinking shaped what we know? Emerging from the lecture series “Feminist Knowledge Reconsidered: Feminism and the Academy,” held at York University in 2009, Reconsidering Knowledge examines current ideas about feminism in relation to knowledge, education and society, and the future potential for feminist research and teaching in the university context. Connecting early stories of women who defied their exclusion from knowledge creation to contemporary challenges for… (more information)

African Awakening

The Emerging Revolutions

Sokari Ekine, Firoze Manji

The tumultuous uprisings of citizens in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have seized the attention of media analysts who have characterised these as ‘Arab revolutions’, a perspective given weight by popular demonstrations in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and elsewhere. However, what have been given less attention are the concurrent uprisings in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Western… (more information)