Research Interests

• Social and economic change, particularly with respect to the impact of restructuring on forest dependent regions. This work was part of a large scale study called Coasts Under Stress (2000-2005) which investigates the effects of restructuring on the health of the environment, people and communities on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada. It builds on my earlier work on the fishing industry and isolated places on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.
  
• Local action in a global context. This theme, in which I combine political economy and ecology, incorporates the above work on rural Newfoundland and Labrador, but also includes my research on fisheries, the forest products industry in the U.S. south (I collaborate with Conner Bailey and Mark Dubois of Auburn University) and the energy industry. I am now contributing on this theme to the Community-University Research Alliance on Recovery in coastal western Newfoundland, which is directed by Barbara Neis (2007-2012).
  
• Oil, Power and Dependency: With Sean Cadigan I am studying the oil and gas industry offshore Newfoundland, but set in its global context.
  
• Fisheries science and management: With Norwegian colleagues Jahn Petter Johsen and Petter Holm I am working on an actor-network theory approach to improve understanding fisheries science and management with particular reference to cod off Newfoundland

Some examples of my writing may be accessed here.

• "A very delicate world." This paper discusses the experiences of two fishers (men) and two fish plant workers (women) in rural Newfoundland after the closure of the cod fishery in 1992.
  
• "Contested forest: logging the Main River watershed in western Newfoundland, Canada." (with Honna Janes-Hodder)
• "Local leaders in a global setting: dependency and resistance in rural New South Wales and Newfoundland." (with Ian Gray)