I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. I have a PhD in Sociology. My research expertise is in sustainability and the related areas of social movements and capacity building.

Background

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My research is rooted in an abiding interest in human action and social change. My work has been especially influenced by the social movement theories of resource mobilization, new social movement, and frame alignment as well as efforts in social psychology to link attitudes, beliefs, and context to behaviour change. Most recently, the social philosophies of pragmatism and practice theory are beginning to inform important pedagogical gaps, which I try to address in designing socially conscious classrooms. I conduct research on the substantive use of the above ideas in understanding sustainability as a global social movement. This conceptualization assumes meaningful partnerships among classrooms, communities, and citizens. I am convinced that such collaborations will succeed if new thoughts, new situations, new ways of acting, and new rewards can coalesce into individual and collective action for a better society.

“Indeed the future has already broken into the present. We each live in many times. The present of one is the past of another, and the future of yet another. We are called to live, knowing and showing that the future exists and that each one of us can call it in, when we are willing, to redress the balance of the past.”

– Ivan Illich, Celebration of awareness (1970)