Table Of ContentGlobalism and Localization
Considering the context of the present ecological and social crisis, this book
takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore the relationship between
globalism and localization. Globalism may be viewed as a positive emergent
property of globalization. Th e latter depicts a worldwide economic and
political system, and arguably a worldview, that has directly increased
planetary levels of injustice, poverty, militarism, violence, and ecological
destruction. In contrast, globalism represents interconnected systems
of exchange and resourcefulness through increased communications
across innumerable global diversities. In an economic, cultural, and
political framework, localization centers on small-scale communities
placed within the immediate bioregion, providing intimacy between the
means of production and consumption, as well as long-term security and
resilience. Th ere is an increasing movement toward localization in order
to counteract the destruction wreaked by globalization, yet our world is
deeply and integrally immersed within a globalized reality.
Within this collection, contributors expound upon the connection
between local and global phenomenon within their respective fi elds
including social ecology, climate justice, ecopsychology, big history,
peace ecology, social justice, community resilience, indigenous rights,
permaculture, food justice, liberatory politics, and both transformative
and transpersonal studies.
Jeanine M. Canty, PhD, is a professor at Naropa University. A lover
of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, she focuses her teaching
on the intersection of social and ecological justice and the process of
worldview expansion and positive change. She is both an editor of and a
contributor to E cological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices
and has selected works featured in Th e Wiley Handbook of Transpersonal
Psychology, the I nternational Journal of Transpersonal Studies , S ustainability:
Th e Journal of Record , W orld Futures: Th e Journal of New Paradigm Research ,
Shadows & Light: Th eory, Research, and Practice in Transpersonal Psychology,
and Th e Body and Oppression: Its Roots, Its Voices, and Its Resolutions.
Together the essays in this brilliantly conceived collection reveal the
strengths of global activism. While presenting indigenous and local
wisdom, these essays document the eff ectiveness of engaged local commu-
nity through a myriad of lenses—whether indigenous food sovereignty, or
environmental groups, or climate, economic and social justice movements.
Along with glimpses of an innovative, potential and future well-being for
us all, these pages give us a wide and fertile ground for change.
Susan Griffi n, author of Woman and Nature
“Th ink globally, act locally”—there’s a lot of wisdom in that slogan, but
what is the diff erence between globalism and globalization? Can local-
ization work for the wellbeing of the whole planet? Th e contributors to
this volume look at these issues through the complementary lenses of
economic and environmental justice, racism, ecopsychology, permacul-
ture, indigenous rights, digital technology, and mobilization strategies.
Th e result is a thoughtful and useful response to the social and ecologi-
cal crises that challenge us today.
David Loy , author of Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings
for the Ecological Crisis (2019)
A provocative collection of diverse climate justice voices from the
ground that engages globalism as one of the most important paradigms
of our time and analyzes how globalization has the potential to destroy
our sense of place, belonging, and location. As our increasingly glo-
balized world thrusts and displaces individuals and collective societies
beyond our locations into larger unfamiliar and abstract spaces occu-
pied by market profi teers, transnational corporations, and state govern-
ments, these authors off er perspectives, emergent solutions, and hope
for our social and ecological crisis. Advocating and reclaiming a para-
digm of localization could be truly transformative. Th is is an important
book to read.
Suzanne Benally, Executive Director, Cultural Survival
From the fi rst word of the “Dedication” to the last sentence of the fi nal
chapter, this book’s radical thinkers open vistas to the futures we want.
Th ey do this via a relational understanding of the meanings of social
justice and their deep and nuanced intersectional engagements with cli-
mate justice, indigenous struggles, food sovereignty, the promise and
perils of digital organizing, living better (as in buen vivir ), and trans-
forming selves and worlds at the same time.
Th is book’s heart is in just the right place, the space where ordinary
people’s activism reaches toward total liberation, from the commu-
nity just down the street to the ends of the pluriverse and everywhere
between and betwixt.
John Foran , Professor of Sociology, University
of California, Santa Barbara
Globalism and Localization
Emergent Approaches to Ecological
and Social Crises
Edited by Jeanine M. Canty
First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
Th e right of Jeanine M. Canty to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-22260-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-22261-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-27414-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Th is book is dedicated to all sentient beings who are suff ering. It is
dedicated to the displaced, the dishonored, the addicted, the lost, the
warriors, the healers, the decolonizers, the farmers, the storytellers,
the artists, the just. It is dedicated to the sacred—for our ancestors;
for our Earth Mother; for the fi re, earth, air, and water; for spirit. It is
dedicated to community which includes every being.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XI
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS XIII
INTRODUCTION XVII
Jeanine M. Canty
Chapter 1 Climate Justice and the Challenge
of Local Solutions 1
Brian Tokar
Chapter 2 Th e African Burial Ground: Roots
of Ecological Destruction and Social
Exploitation 20
Carl C. Anthony
Chapter 3 Th e Ties Th at Bind: An Earth-Based Story
of Home 34
Jeanine M. Canty
Chapter 4 Food Justice, Permaculture, and Global
Urban Strategy 54
Stephen Polk
Chapter 5 Th e Declaration of Ek Balam: Protecting
the Sacred in Corn 76
Devon G. Peña
IX
