Date of Award
2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Anthropology
Supervisor
Dr. Adriana Premat
Abstract
Based on research conducted in the summer of 2009 at the HOPE garden in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood, I examine how community gardening builds participatory democracy in an urban neighbourhood undergoing gentrification. The HOPE gardeners overwhelmingly were drawn to the garden as a way to connect with other people in their neighbourhood. In a complex and heterogeneous neighbourhood these gardeners were brought together in community because of, not in spite of, their differences. The garden seems also to have been a catalyst for other community gatherings in the park. I argue that the garden helps to retain the heterogeneity and complexity of Parkdale which may work to counteract some the effects of gentrification. In light of this research, I present some different ways of thinking about both democracy and community.
Recommended Citation
Ellis, Rebecca, "SOWING THE SEEDS OF DEMOCRACY: COMMUNITY GARDENING IN PARKDALE, TORONTO" (2010). Digitized Theses. 4790.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4790