Strengthening and Building Communities: The Social Economy in a Changing World

On October 22nd to 25th, 2007, the Canadian Social Economy Hub, CIRIEC International and CIRIEC Canada jointly organized the first International Research Conference on the Social Economy. Researchers, senior practitioners and government officials (both elected and civil servants) were welcome to participate. Click here for more information on the conference >>

A pre-conference Student Workshop on the Social Economy took place at the University of Victoria on Monday, October 22, 2007. This Workshop was open to any student (graduate or undergraduate) interested in the Social Economy. Approximately 50 students from North America, Europe, and Latin America attended the event. The Workshop offered participants a chance to get to know other students working in the SE field and to connect to one another by joining the Social Economy Student Network (SESN).

Agenda and Presentations:

Welcome: Introduction to The Social Economy as Academic Discipline & The Student Social Economy Network

• Janel Smith and Robin Puga (SESN Coordinators)
  Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships and the Social Economy Student Network
  [PowerPoint]

Session I – Social Economy-Based Research, Ethical Challenges & Methodological Choices

• Debbie Dergousoff (Student, Simon Fraser University)
  Ethnobotany, Institutional Ethnography and the Knowledge of Ruling Relations
  [PowerPoint]

• Dr. Jo-Anne Lee and Alison Sum (University of Victoria)
  Finding Our Space (Anti-Dote: A Network of Racialised Minority and Aboriginal Girls and Women in Victoria and Southern Vancouver Island)
  [Website]

Session II – Linking Theory to Practice: Working in the Community and Participatory Action Sector

• Dr. Budd Hall (University of Victoria)
  Antigonish and Activist Blogs: Canadian Community-Based Research
  [PowerPoint]

• Dr. Jutta Gutberlet (University of Victoria)
  Micro-credit and recycling co-ops: grassroots initiatives to alleviate poverty
  [PowerPoint]

Session III – The Future of the Socio-Economic Sector – Innovative Research & the View from the Margins

• Dr. Jorge Sousa (University of Alberta)
  Exploring Tensions and Challenges in Pursuing Research with Social Value: Sharing Early Thoughts from the Field
  [PowerPoint]

• Joy Emmanuel (BC Institute for Cooperative Studies)
  Innovative Research and the View point from the Margins
  [PowerPoint]

• Lena K. Soots (Student, Simon Fraser University)
  The Elephant in the Room: Sustainability and the Future of the Social Economy
  [PowerPoint]

This event took place in English.