ABSTRACT
What is important in life, and what is important to live? Questions like these are implied in many decisions individuals make daily, and they may surface when communities must think about, and (re)make their futures. This book is about communities that have been repeatedly confronted with these questions, and it is about hundreds of small communities dotting a rugged coastline with a history of colonialism and marginalization, and yet also of resilience and self-reliance despite enduring dependence on centers of political and economic power. It is about how communities have responded when key resources become scarce or inaccessible and how livelihoods and cultures persist after being deeply threatened. In such cases, a process of collective rethinking of economy, governance, and identity is needed, a process that has occurred intensely on and off in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
