This edited collection brings together a broad range of case studies to highlight the role of Canadian corporations in producing, deepening, and exacerbating conditions of dispossession both at home and abroad. The book does not present the cases as exceptional instances of greed or malice, but rather as expected and inherent consequences of contemporary capitalism (and in some cases, settler colonialism). One of the core purposes of the book is to combine and synthesize analyses of dispossession within and outside of Canada. These processes are often connected, as the normalization of settler colonialism at home can lead to indifference and acceptance of dispossession caused by Canadian companies abroad. While the literature tends to treat the two as distinct and unrelated phenomena, this book brings local and global cases together in order to present a rigorous analysis of the role of Canadian corporate activity in processes of dispossession.
The book includes a diversity of theoretical approaches related to the overarching theme of capitalism and dispossession. However, they share in common a critical analysis of capitalism and its implications on marginalized people at home and abroad. This includes political economy approaches that draw on the work of theorists such as David Harvey, important interventions from Indigenous studies and settler colonial studies, feminist approaches using the work of scholars such as Silvia Federici, and the concept environmental racism, which draws on both critical race theory and environmental justice literatures.