Education Activities

Education activities in the Clayoquot Alliance

Community-based research activities in the region involve local community members and First Nations in research design, implementation and evaluation. Research results are shared through community-based events and forums. Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at the University of Victoria pursue background theoretical and conceptual work around community-based research, participatory policy formation and barriers to implementation.

Raincoast Energy Program Series

Organized by the Raincoast Education Society with help from the Clayoquot Alliance for Research, Education, and Training, the Raincoast Energy Program Series includes a variety of talks and workshops around the topic of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and the use of alternative, sustainable energy sources. All events take place at the Raincoast Interpretive Centre, 451 Main St., Tofino, BC (Box 815, V0R 2Z0). For more information please contact: 250-725-2560 or res@island.net.

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Environmental Studies 300B: Environmental Issues

Dates: July 6 - August 19, 2004
Location: University of Victoria
Instructor: Derek Shaw

The purpose of this course is to further develop students’ ability to understand, analyze, and critique environmental issues. We will explore environmental issues through the theme of consumption; by treating environmental issues as issues of human consumption of resources we will come to an understanding of the relationship between contemporary society and the environmental problems that it creates. We will use the concept of an “ecological footprint” to analyze our impact on the environment, collectively and individually.

In addition to understanding environmental issues generally, we will consider ethical theories regarding the evaluation of human actions with respect to the environment.

Class format will usually consist of a presentation by the instructor followed by discussion. After the first three weeks, we will be having group presentations, also followed by discussion. For each class, students are expected to complete all assigned readings and to participate fully in class discussions.

This course takes place over a relatively short period of time; in addition to doing the reading, students should be working on class requirements every week starting with the first week. The syllabus identifies readings as well as specific tasks that students should be working on each week.

Environmental Studies 400C: Community-Based Research in Clayoquot Sound

Dates: May 1-30, 2003
Location: University of Victoria and Clayoquot Sound
Instructor: Kelly Bannister
Course advisors: Rod Dobell, Stan Boychuk

Course web site »

What role might academic research play in assisting communities in resolving environmental and social problems arising in the process of transformation from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based society? What challenges are involved in collaborative research between people in universities and in communities? What barriers are faced in bringing theoretical features of 'boundary work' into the social realities of cross-cultural 'borderlands'? The objective of this course is to explore these questions, and to problematize the concept of" community-based research", in both theoretical and practical contexts. The focus will be on past and present social and environmental research in the Clayoquot Sound region of western Vancouver Island. The course will draw on both written materials and research relationships developed through the Clayoquot Alliance for Research, Education and Training. The course will include background reading, lectures and class discussions at the University of Victoria, and a 10-day field trip to Clayoquot Sound where students will be exposed to numerous community research projects and contexts, and have an opportunity to engage directly with local First Nations and non-First Nations community members involved in local research.

Researching eelgrass ecology
in Clayoquot Sound

Eelgrass ecology in Clayoquot Sound

Jennifer Yakimishyn, MSc Candidate, Department of Geography, University of Victoria

Project proposal » (108 kB PDF)
Slide presentation »

This project's outreach program will provide the local youth community with the opportunity to gain invaluable work experience in marine biology through hands-on scientific research. During the school months high school students will be provided the opportunity to gain experience in marine biology through the Career Prep program at Ucluelet Secondary and in July and August through the Young Canada Works program. By assisting in beach seining and eelgrass sampling activities during the school year youth will gain appreciation and understanding for local marine habitat and this awareness will facilitate environmental stewardship in their community.

Grey whale prey distribution in Clayoquot Sound

Brian Kopach, MSc Candidate, Department of Geography, University of Victoria

Project proposal » (68 kB PDF)
Researcher's web site »
Slide presentation »

With access to the knowledge gained over the last decade of working with the whales in the Sound I intend to create a workbook-style manual that incorporates text, graphics and pictures describing the research the Whale Lab has carried out. The material will be aimed towards senior secondary students, primarily because ecology is synthetic and requires a bit of understanding in a number of subject areas, and is generally introduced in senior biology classes.

Transcoding indigenous cultural knowledge: Assessing ethnographic hypermedia

Towagh Behr, MA Candidate, School of Environmental Studies & Anthropology, University of Victoria.

This thesis project has consisted of two distinct phases. The first phase was the provision of assistance to Nuu-chah-nulth Central Region Language Project in the work that has been undertaken to revitalize Nuu-chah-nulth language and culture. The second phase of the project has been a broad contextualization and investigation into the interface between the production of indigenous cultural knowledge and new forms of media.

Space and scales: The cultural, linguistic, ethnic, socio-economic, environmental, and political definitions of borders, boundaries and frontiers

Graduate Course Development Proposal (Interdisciplinary Studies)
Instructor: Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly

This interdisciplinary course development project proposes to focus on borders, boundaries and frontiers because they are fascinating case studies of a transformation that seem to challenge the traditional coherence of intergovernmental and international relations. The post-modern state is progressively evolving toward a hybrid and multiple, mosaic-like system of territorially overlapping incongruent spaces. Multiple special constructions exemplify this transformation: trans-border regions, twin cities, city networks, and autonomous areas, transnational and transcontinental native, linguistic, ethnic, cultural or environmental communities. All seem to form our postmodern world.

The continuity of the modern world viewed as a territorial logic constructing space, identity and security does not wither away, however, but is juxtaposed and intermeshed with postmodern new spaces and collective identities that organize in networks, virtual spaces, mixed and contingent identities based on gender, ethnicity, religion or language or culture. At the core of those moving junctures, are border, boundaries and frontiers where those transformations crystallize.

This course will address the following questions: what are borders, boundaries and frontiers? How do border, boundaries and frontiers define spaces, scales and communities? How do border, boundaries and frontiers link and delineate simultaneously? What institutional architecture organizes those overlapping constellations of communities, identities and polities?

Changing concepts of property rights: Historical overview and current developments

Graduate Course Development Proposal (History)
Instructor: Martin Bunton

The focus of this course is on the changing role of property rights in regulating claims and rights in land, and resources generally. We will examine theories and perspectives that help explain the creation and legitimation of property rights; the avenues and means by which those perspectives have spread globally; the critiques that have emerged to contest dominant, private property, narratives; and the prospects of reconfiguring property systems as local communities adapt to changing global economy and governance mechanisms. Much of our discussion of current developments will be comparative and historical, but also rooted in empirical research in contemporary British Columbia examples: students will be required to develop and present a case study of their own for class presentation.