Motivations in Grassroots Bartering Economies: A Case Study on Bunz Trading Zone Halifax [K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki]

As a result of a mainstream economy believed to be ill equipped to counter pressing issues of climate change, ecological overshoot, wealth inequalities, corporate concentration, poverty and job insecurity, declining democracy, and trends in individual and collective wellbeing that lag behind Gross Domestic Product increases, everyday people are turning to grassroots alternative economy projects to enact a different economic future responsive to their needs and aspirations. This study inquires into alternative systems of provision in grassroots alternative economy projects. It contributes to a greater understanding of the values, concerns, and needs that motivate and sustain members’ participation in a grassroots bartering economy, and features a case study on a grassroots barter system in Halifax, Nova Scotia [K’jibuktuk, Mi’kma’ki], known as Bunz Trading Zone Halifax. At present, Bunz Trading Zone Halifax and its spinoffs of Bunz Helping Zone, Housing Zone, and Baby Zone, have an impressive membership of over thirty thousand people, and accounts for 6.4 percent of the Halifax Regional Municipality population. Bunz Trading Zone Halifax forms part of a national and international network of over 250 Bunz communities in which Bunz Trading Zone Halifax is the fastest growing in the network. Through exploratory, qualitative and in-depth interviews with leaders and general members, this study probes the motivations in participating in Bunz Trading Zone Halifax, the extent to which motivations were shared among participants and the barriers and opportunities in meeting those motivations. Territory Acknowledgement I would like to acknowledge that this inquiry occurred in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral, unceded and never surrendered territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the 18 century “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” signed between the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) People and the British Crown. These treaties affirm their sovereignty and self-determination and enshrine a nation-to-nation relationship between the Mi’kmaq and settler people on the shared lands and waters of Mi’kma’ki. I want to thank the Mi’kmaq people for their stewardship of these lands and waters since time immemorial. We are all treaty people. Personal Acknowledgements I would like to dedicate this thesis to my father Bill McKiggan who this year celebrates his seventieth birthday. Thank you, dad, for you your lifelong pursuit of justice and unwavering commitment to the dignity and collective welfare of everyday people, those who have crossed your path and those who have not. The integrity of your journey is an inspiration to myself and to many. I want to thank my thesis advisor Anders Hayden for guiding me though this research journey and for holding space within the academy to explore radical and alternative ways of organizing economics and community. I want to thank Steven Mannell and Andrew Bergel for their strong voice of reason and pragmatism when laying the foundation for this thesis. I want to thank my dearest friend Chris Dufour for extending their tender care and support during the entirety of my undergraduate degree and thesis, especially in times when I felt handicapped by trauma. Thank you for the constant affirmation that our worth is so much more than our productivity and that self-care and self-preservation are integral to individual and collective welfare. Finally, I want to thank the good people of Bunz Trading Zone Halifax who lent me their time, excitement and care in sharing their experiences in grassroots alterative economy projects and their aspirations for a more people-centered and environmentally sustainable way of living