Making the Newfoundland outport

Dick, Jerry (2011) Making the Newfoundland outport. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The outport, a term that describes all of Newfoundland's coastal communities, is an important touchstone in terms of Newfoundland cultural identity. There is a perception by many that the 1992 Moratorium on Northern Cod marked the end of a traditional way of outport life largely centred on the family-based inshore cod fishery. This thesis explores various texts — literary, archival, and scholarly — which reveal that the outport has always been a dynamic, evolving place that is "made" on many different levels and at various locations. It also surveys some of the literature on place making, particularly as it relates to rural locations, considering such concepts as rurality, gentrification, the shift from places of production to pIaces of consumption and "the commons." Access to the commons — which is considered here not only as shared physical space but also as social space in which residents come together to produce community — is seen as an important characteristic of outport communities. -- The community of Freshwater, Conception Bay, is used as a case study to examine place making in a contemporary Newfoundland outport, and to document the transformation that it, like many rural Newfoundland communities, has undergone. This thesis concludes with a discussion about various strategies for maintaining those key characteristics that define outport communities and for managing change.

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