Rebeccah Nelems

Rebeccah Nelems

Assistant Professor

Contact information

Email: rnelems@athabascau.ca

Phone:

I am a public sociologist and engaged social change theorist who believes that the best thinking is done with – not about – the world. My research is premised on the inherent relationality of existence, and the view that the biggest crisis we face is one of disconnect: from ourselves, others and earth. My work focuses on how we might work collaboratively across deep diversity to transform individualist, ego-centric ways of being towards relational, eco-centric ways of being. While there is no shortage of ideas, capacities and know-how, my research focuses on the critical gap of sustained dialogue and collaborative engagement across deep diversity in an ever-polarizing world.

Supporting, leading and teaching collaborative change processes has been a central focus of my work not only as a scholar but as a practitioner. For the past twenty years, I have worked with dozens of organizations, institutions, communities and movements around the world on social change projects – from UN agencies to small non-profit agencies. Most recently, I worked with youth climate justice activists promoting the rights of nature to understand what they teach us about social change and how it happens. I have also taught collaborative leadership and advised global leaders for the past five years at Royal Roads University, where I am Associate Faculty. Through this work, I have learned that transformative systems change happens when everyone in a system is engaged in genuine and sustained collaborative processes.

My recent publications are on deep democracy, climate change, empathy and decolonizing higher education. My current research focuses on engaged theorizing, collaborative living, post-Covid conceptions of home and kin, eco-social empathy, and collaborative social change methodologies. I am honoured to live with my family as a sixth-generation guest of Irish/Scottish/British descent on the ancestral lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples today also known as Victoria, BC.

Phone: 1-250-896-9304 or 1-800-270-9640
Office hours: Tuesdays 2:00 MST (or by appointment)

Research interests

  • Epistemic Justice
  • Eco-Social Justice
  • Youth Climate Justice Movement
  • Grounded Normative Theory
  • Transformative Social Change Theory
  • Engaged Research Methodologies (Relational, Participatory, Decolonizing, Indigenous and Arts-Based)
  • Decolonizing Human Rights and the Rights of Nature
  • Eco-Social Empathy
  • Collaborative Co-Parenting

Educational credentials

  • PhD, Sociology/Cultural, Social & Political Thought, University of Victoria
  • MA, Social and Political Thought, York University
  • BA, University of Toronto

Professional affiliations

  • Associate Faculty, School of Leadership, Royal Roads University (RRU)
  • Associate, International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD)
  • Founding member, Cedar Trees Institute (CTI), University of Victoria (UVic)