John Schouten and I have been doing a deeply-embedded ethnography here in Newfoundland for the last five years now. We feel extremely fortunate to have been able to do this. In business schools and in marketing, there is usually not enough time, space, or resources for the necessary engagement to do traditional ethnographic work. Sad to say, extended engagement in the field is also often not valued. Coming from a sociological background, this has been frustrating to say the least, and at times even self-crisis inducing.
As a naive observer, how can you ever know what’s what after a relatively short amount of time? The understanding of the interaction of emic perspective and local culture needs extended time to develop. We’re in the process of writing a piece for Journal of Customer Behavior on the dangers of “fast ethnography”–tentatively titled “Pretty Little Stories” (because those are the things likely to come from theorizing based on too little time in the field). But that’s a topic for another post.
What this post IS about is our recent article–“Catch of the Day“–for The Sociological Review Magazine on our work. We’ve also published an academic journal article on this ethnography–“Social Enterprise as a Broker of Identity Resources”–and are in the process of developing and publishing on our theory of “assembled identity” that has come out of the ethnography. We licensed the Sociological Review article under a copyright that allows us its copyright, so we’ve reprinted it here.
Catch of the day How a social enterprise based on fishing helped Newfoundlanders reanimate their cultural identity
Beth Leavenworth DuFault and John W. Schouten
6th February 2024
In the picturesque village of Petty Harbour in Newfoundland, Canada, tourists can experience everything from iceberg-viewing excursions, to swimming with whales, to zip-lining. However, Petty Harbour is more than just a tourist spot. It is also a working fishing village that dates back to the 16th century. Despite the collapse of the cod fishery and a 1992 cod-fishing moratorium that devastated the economy of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, fishing remains an important economic engine for the town. In addition to its commercial fishing activities, the harbour is home to a social enterprise called Fishing for Success.
Social enterprises are businesses with a core social, cultural or environmental purpose that reinvest profits into their social mission. A recent study by the British Council and Social Enterprise UK estimates there are more than 10 million social enterprises operating globally and calls social enterprise “one of the largest movements of our time”. People may turn to social enterprises to make a difference in their worlds and often want to break free of the problems of what they see as predatory capitalism.
A sea change in the community
Fishing for Success collaborates with charitable organisations to provide a number of social programmes. Youth Cod Fishery is a weekly summer school for at-risk youth from St John’s. Girls Who Fish is a programme introducing women of all ages to fishing. WiSH (Women Sharing Heritage) introduces immigrant women to Newfoundland’s cultural and fishing traditions and allows them to share their own heritage.
A further programme, Boats to Bowls, run in conjunction with an acclaimed local restaurant, teaches young single mothers how to catch, clean and process cod; how to create fish stock from the normally discarded carcasses; and how to cook and serve dishes using the fish and stock. It gives them hands-on knowledge of an entire value chain.
As ethnographers embedded in the Fishing for Success organisation for more than five years, we have witnessed how this social enterprise has become integral to the identities of its owners, employees and participants – and how they, in turn, influence the identity of the organisation and province. The story of the Fishing for Success founders, Kimberly Orren and Leo Hearn, is a good place to begin tracing the role of cultural heritage, including historical narratives, heritage practices, traditional arts and crafts, folklore, clothing, cuisine and language in the construction of individual and organisational identities.
Fishing for success
Deep connection with heritage
Orren’s love of fishing began during childhood days spent fishing with her father and working on the wharf in Newfoundland. After moving to Florida, her love for Newfoundland and interest in fishing continued, which led to an avid interest in science, and she became a science teacher. But Orren had a growing educational vision. She wanted to revive the heritage experience of the cod fishery in the hearts and lives of young Newfoundlanders. She returned to education to gain a PhD in aquatic and fisheries science so she could start a fishing programme.
As an educator, Orren had deep concerns for the youth of her homeland. Too many – especially the most vulnerable – had lost what she felt was a once-vital connection with the sea. They faced a host of challenges, including anomie (a feeling of disconnect from family and community that can stem from changing cultural norms and values) and other threats to identity and wellbeing, such as homelessness and drug abuse.
Fishing for Success merges Kimberly Orren’s science and knowledge, Leo Hearn’s expertise and storytelling, and their shared love of Newfoundland heritage.
Orren formed the goal of establishing a social enterprise to help young people connect with nature, the sea and local heritage and, thereby, develop stronger, healthier senses of self and belonging.
On a visit home to Newfoundland, Orren met Hearn, a highly skilled bastion of local knowledge and a ready raconteur. Hearn grew up in Petty Harbour and traces his patrilineage back through more than 250 years of Newfoundland fishermen. From fishing with his father, Hearn knew every cod-rich shoal in Motion Bay and how to navigate by triangulating landmarks on the distant shore. He also knew how to extract all the value from a codfish, from the prized fillet to the skin and bones.
More than a summer job
Fishing for Success was born from a shared vision that merged Orren’s science and fishery knowledge, Hearn’s fishing expertise and storytelling, and their shared love of Newfoundland heritage. The venture quickly became a desirable provider of work and training for young people. It has hosted a constant stream of summer workers, interns and volunteers to help with its social programmes.
During their time with the social enterprise, these workers form relationships with Orren and Hearn, with each other, and with Newfoundland’s natural and cultural heritage. For most of them, the experience has been transformational.
One employee, Joni, is a good example. Like many local young people, she had no interest or experience in the raw natural environment. Despite Joni’s reluctance, her mother insisted she take a summer job, and Fishing for Success had openings. That was five years ago, and Joni has worked for the organisation every summer since then. She describes her time with Fishing for Success as “grounding” and “life-changing”. For the first time, she has embraced her cultural heritage.
Casting a wider net for inclusion
Another employee was inspired by his own gay-male identity to start initiatives to enhance the organisation’s existing work toward inclusivity. Under this umbrella vision, he created and executed a project to paint a traditional Newfoundland dory (a small flat-bottomed, hand-oared boat for fishing cod) in rainbow colours to display at Fishing for Success.
The pride dory has become a symbol not only for Fishing for Success, but also for the province’s desired identity of tolerance and inclusion. It has been featured in news stories and displayed at government buildings. A member of parliament has had pictures taken in it for PR and news opportunities, transmitting elements of the organisational identity to the provincial government and the broader community.
Employee Joni calls her time with Fishing for Success ‘grounding’ and ‘life-changing’. For the first time, she has embraced her cultural heritage.
Fishing for Success curates and mobilises cultural heritage – such as fishing, foraging and boat maintenance skills; traditional arts and crafts; Newfoundlander expressions, idioms and linguistic nuances; and traditional cooking recipes and methods – making them available to people who may be struggling with transitional or troubled identities.
Broker of identity resources
Programme participants, tourists and – above all – employees take away experiences that change them in positive ways. They all, in turn, make an impact on the organisation’s identity and the larger place identity. This flow of identity resources alerts us to an important dimension of value when thinking about the world of work today.
All is not perfect with social enterprises as an employment choice. They are often financially precarious, pay can be low and business may be wildly sporadic. But beyond money and security, what workers gain from labouring for a social enterprise is highly rewarding.
Social enterprise workers develop meaningful connections to people and place. They develop new capacities and the confidence that flows from these. They sign on for a summer and find themselves returning year after year. Employees become part of the organisation, the organisation becomes part of them, and through all of it runs a deep sense of commitment to place and of making a positive difference in the world.
This research was funded by a Partnership Development Grant (#890-2018-0008) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.
References and further reading
- British Council and Social Enterprise UK. (2022). More in Common: The Global State of Social Enterprise. June 2022. Accessed December 2023. https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/more_in_common_global_state_of_social_enterprise.pdf
- DeLanda, M. (2016). Assemblage Theory. Edinburgh University Press.
- Roy, M. J. & Farmer, J. (2022). Beyond the State of the Art: Where Do We Go Next on the Topic of Social Enterprise, Health, and Wellbeing? In M.J. Roy & J. Farmer (Eds.), Social Enterprise, Health, and Wellbeing (268–290). Routledge.
- Schouten, J.W. & DuFault, B.L. (2022). Social Enterprise as a Broker of Identity Resources. Sustainability 14(6): 3432. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063432
- Thornhill-Verma, J. (2019). Cod Collapse, The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland’s Saltwater Cowboys. Nimbus Publishing Limited.
- Wright, E. O. (2013). Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias. American Sociological Review, 78(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122412468882
- Wry, T. & York, J. G. (2017). An Identity-Based Approach to Social Enterprise. Academy of Management Review, 42(3), 437–460. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2013.0506
- Yodanis, C. L. (2000). Constructing Gender and Occupational Segregation: A Study of Women and Work in Fishing Communities. Qualitative Sociology, 23, 267–290. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005515926536
About the authors
Beth Leavenworth DuFault
Beth Leavenworth DuFault is Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr DuFault studies sociology of consumption, markets and consumer identity. Twitter/X: @ProfDPhD
John W. Schouten
John W. Schouten is Canada Research Chair (Tier-1) in Social Enterprise at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr Schouten studies social enterprise and markets as agents of change.
Cite this work
DuFault, B. L. & Schouten, J. W.(2024, February 6).Catch of the day: How a social enterprise based on fishing helped Newfoundlanders reanimate their cultural identity [Online].The Sociological Review Magazine.https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.rivp4282
Copyright
© 2024 Beth Leavenworth DuFault and John W. Schouten. This work is licensed under The Sociological Review Free Access Licence.
You must contact the authors for permission to reproduce or re-use this article. Please consult the The Sociological Review Free Access guidelines for further information on access and use of the content of this article.
Beth DuFault Ph.D. 