People
James Magnus-Johnston, Ph.D. Candidate

BA Political Studies (Hons); Rhetoric & Communications, and Theatre (Hons, Gold Medal), University of Winnipeg, Canada; MPhil in Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK.

Email: james.magnus-johnston@mail.mcgill.ca

 

Interests: debt, money, energy, ecological economics, social entrepreneurship, institutional entrepreneurship, transdisciplinary pedagogy

 

 


Background:

James Magnus-Johnston has over a decade of experience as a teacher and practitioner in the fields of ecological economics and social entrepreneurship. He is the Director of the Centre for Resilience at Canadian Mennonite University, where he also serves as the Chair of their Political Studies program and an Instructor in Business. He’s also a Board Director with the Assiniboine Credit Union, one of Canada’s largest independent financial institutions. James previously worked in the financial industry, in public policy positions, and as a social entrepreneur – helping to establish a food cooperative (The Fireweed Food Hub and South Osborne Market), a coffee shop (Fools + Horses), a composting service (Compost Winnipeg), and a coworking and experiential learning hub (the CMU Centre for Resilience). James is focusing his work at McGill on the development of a new urban land trust prototype. James would often rather be singing, and he lives in the woods.

Research Summary:

We live in a period during which housing affordability, inequality, and the ecological crisis motivate social entrepreneurs to disrupt homeownership and land development patterns. This study seeks to trace the journey of socially-motivated and institutionally-embedded entrepreneurs, documenting both their investigation into novel housing models as well as the ways they address context-specific institutional problems. As our commodified, debt-backed housing market endures contemporary shocks and disturbances, how can social entrepreneurs conceive of a home-as-habitat rather than a home-as-commodity?

The ideation and prototyping of a new home model takes place in one of Canada’s major urban centres—Winnipeg—leveraging experience in Asian, European, and North American contexts. The entrepreneurs draw from knowledge in a variety of professional fields—from finance and law to business, architecture and public policy. The experiential diversity of the group, including a wide geographical, cultural, and professional scope, provides an opportunity to study what Garud et al (2007) refer to as a “theoretical puzzle” in institutional entrepreneurship: how are embedded agents able to envision new practices and get others to adopt them?

 


Awards and Scholarships:

Graduate Excellence Award: McGill University. September 2022.

Most Innovative Business Model: Winnipeg Downtown Business Improvement Zone, June 2016.

Named one of Manitoba’s “Future 40 under 40,” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, March 2015.

 


Publications:

Magnus-Johnston, James. “What is the Steady State Economy?” in Washington, Haydn and Twomey, Paul, A Future Beyond Growth: Towards a Steady State Economy. London: Routledge, 2016.

Magnus-Johnston, James. Carbon Pricing and Climate Mitigation Backgrounder. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, January 2017.

Fernandez, Lynne (ed.), Magnus-Johnston, James, and Hudson, Mark, An Economic Analysis of the Energy East Pipeline in Manitoba. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2016.

 


 

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