From Black Horses to White Steeds

Building Community Resilience
Edited by Laurie Brinklow and Ryan Gibson
This book celebrates and critiques the dynamics of innovation, governance, and culture in place. Case studies from both sides of the North Atlantic illustrate episodes of “turning around”; evolution, transformation, and visionary strategy that breathe new life into the term “think global, act local.”
The studies explore how various dark horses including minorities, small towns, peripheries, Aboriginal communities, those with little money, status, voice, or political leverage can rise to the occasion and chart livable futures.
From Black Horses to White Steeds is a companion book to Remote Control (ISER 2009) and Place Peripheral (ISER 2015).

“Rural folks have always been both resilient and resourceful. The narratives in this book are truly inspiring in ways to deal with the current and future pace as new technology and environmental change presents challenges and opportunities. Local communities everywhere will benefit from the insights contained herein.”
Hon. Diane Griffin, Senate of Canada

“Like so many collections of case studies, this book provides plenty of inspiring examples. Unlike many, however, it includes useful international comparisons with thoughtful interpretations, methodological transparency, and respect for the limits of the techniques that make the cases useful for critical analysis as well as activism.”
– Bill Reimer, Professor Emeritus, Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

“That remote rural and island communities should thrive in this day and age might fly in the face of conventional wisdom. Yet, there is clear evidence of vibrant communities that creatively exploit the opportunities presented by their geographical predicament. No horsing around here: these are narratives of leadership, vitality, and resilience; crafted out of grit, imagination, and public / private / voluntary-sector partnerships.”
– Godfrey Baldacchino, UNESCO co-chair in Island Studies and Sustainability, UPEI, Canada


6×9, 378 pages with photos, charts, tables, $29.95
Endnotes, Bibliography, and Index
ISBN 978-1-988692-07-4
Also available as a PDF
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LOOK INSIDE:

Table of Contents

Introduction
Retrospective: David J.A. Douglas: Critical reflections from the Canadian rural development perspective
Contributors

“The most significant contribution from this volume is Gibson and Brinklow’s introductory chapter, in which they reject the disadvantage model in favour of the rural being accepted as different and unique, without the need to see it as disadvantaged. This, as demonstrated in Brendan O’Keeffe’s chapter “Surviving or thriving? Perceptions of rural vitality in Ireland,” is an important first step to rethinking community development as a place‐based activity, rather than as a relation to urban centralization.”

The Canadian Geographer