Writing off the Rural West: Globalization, Governments and the Transformation of Rural Communities

Some of the most intense effects of globalization can be seen in rural communities. Despite a booming world economy, rural communities-and the people who work in natural-resource industries like farming, forestry, mining or fishing-have been hard hit by recent international trade agreements. This collection looks at changing rural life, across the country and around the globe.

Roger Epp is Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. He served as founding Dean of the University’s Augustana Campus in Camrose from 2004 to 2011. Much of his recent writing has explored what it means to live in the prairie West with a sense of memory, inheritance, and care. He is author of We are All Treaty People: Prairie Essays (2008), co-editor of Writing Off the Rural West (2001) and co-producer of the documentary “The Canadian Clearances” for CBC Radio Ideas.

Dave Whitson is Professor of Political Science and Canadian Studies at the University of Alberta. Originally from Ontario, he has lived and taught in Western Canada for the last fifteen years. His research interests for much of his career focused on sports and leisure, especially the place of sports in Canadian popular culture, and he is co-author of Hockey Night in Canada: Sports, Identities, and Cultural Politics. His more recent research has focused on tourism, and the transformation of urban and rural places alike in order to satisfy tourists' expectations. He is currently engaged in research that examines the transformation of rural communities across Canada by golf, skiing, and recreational property developments. www.arts.ualberta.ca/~polisci/faculty/whitson.html