Jennie Barron

Chair, Mir Centre for Peace; Instructor, Peace & Justice Studies

“I am constantly impressed by the sensitivity, intelligence and passion for positive social change that I see in our students." —Jennie Barron

Jennie has always had a passionate intellectual interest in social justice, community, and connection. These themes are a constant thread throughout Jennie's academic explorations, activism, and in all the courses she teaches. Jennie’s masters' research explored social movement politics at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmentalism in the territory of the Labrador Innu, specifically around the issues of large-scale nickel mining and low-level military flight testing by NATO.

Her PhD focused on food security and urban space—specifically, community orchards. Her interest is in how people are re-imagining and reviving the concept of “the commons”—these being inclusive, non-commodified urban spaces where people are self-governing around the provision of food as a fundamental human right.

Activism has been very formative in Jennie’s development as an academic and a teacher, ever since the early 1990s when she cut her activist teeth in the anti-apartheid struggle and resistance to the first Gulf War in Iraq. In the early 2000s, she was very involved in a campaign to end the sanctions against Iraq that were killing thousands of children. Closer to home, she has worked hard to educate the public about the unnecessary use of toxic pesticides, and to bring in a bylaw restricting their use in Nelson. Her other local passion has to do with developing food gardens and green spaces at schools, and volunteering as a director on the board of the Nelson Food Cupboard.

In 2015, Jennie completed a diploma in restorative justice at Simon Fraser University. She is currently an active volunteer with the Nelson Police Department’s Restorative Justice program. Jennie serves as Canadian Co-chair of the board of the bi-national Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Why Jennie Loves Selkirk College

At Selkirk, what Jennie loves most is connecting with students. She says, “I am constantly impressed by the sensitivity, intelligence, and passion for positive social change that I see in our peace studies students.”

Outside of Work

Outside of work, Jennie loves canoeing (especially canoe tripping), nordic skiing, singing, and gardening, especially when it produces food, and especially when her adult children are willing to do any of these things with her.

Publications

• Barron, J. (2019). Community orchards and Hyde's theory of the gift. Canadian Food Studies / La Revue Canadienne Des Etudes Sur L'alimentation, 6(3), 126-147. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v6i3.358

• *Barron, J. (2016) Community gardening: cultivating subjectivities, space, and justice, Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability. DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2016.1169518

• Barron, J. (2002) “Romancing the Other in Aboriginal Support Work” in Nation to Nation: Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada (2nd edition), eds. John Bird, Lorraine Land and Murray MacAdam, Irwin Publishing (Toronto)

• Barron, J. (2002) “Innu Support and the Myth of Wilderness” Nastawgan: Quarterly Journal of the Wilderness Canoe Association Vol.20, No. 1 (spring)

• Barron, J. (2001) “Miracle on Leslie St.” Undercurrents: Journal of Critical Environmental Studies Vol.11

• *Barron, J. (2000) “The Politics of Solidarity: Representation and Articulation in Support of the Labrador Innu” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, Volume 11(3)

(*international peer-reviewed journals)

Learn more about Selkirk College’s Mir Centre for Peace and join Mir Centre for Peace on Facebook.