Social Dynamics ( IF 0.483 ) Pub Date : 2021-04-05 , DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2021.1904493 Kirsten Day 1 , Zarina Patel
ABSTRACT
In order to demonstrate the effects of competing constructions of nature by different interest groups, this article describes a dispute in Cape Town, South Africa, through the lens of cultural theory and Foucault’s notion of discourse linked to power. Controversy arose over the felling of a small plantation of non-indigenous pine trees, situated amidst indigenous “fynbos” vegetation in a suburban park. The matter was adjudicated in the Western Cape Division of the South African High Court, and subsequently in the Supreme Court of Appeal. The case turned on the meaning of public power and the affected community’s right to be heard. During argumentation the scientifically framed and institutionally supported discourse of the conservation entity was pitched against the symbolically oriented discourse of a community action group representing ramblers, joggers, horse riders, and dog walkers. The analysis focuses on how opposing arguments were shaped by perspectives of what nature, in the context of a suburban park, should look like and the purpose it should serve. The study shows how the dominant discourse of nature, rooted in the assumed supremacy of science and expert knowledge, was challenged by a multivalent and contextually moulded discourse of nature as amenity.
中文翻译:
为树木说话:自然竞争建构中话语、权力和组织文化之间关系的研究
摘要
为了展示不同利益集团对自然的竞争建构的影响,本文通过文化理论和福柯与权力相关的话语概念来描述南非开普敦的一场争端。关于砍伐位于郊区公园的本土“fynbos”植被中的一小片非本土松树种植园引起了争议。此事由南非高等法院西开普分庭裁决,随后在最高法院上诉。此案打开了公共权力的意义和受影响社区的发言权。在论证过程中,保护实体的科学框架和制度支持的话语与代表漫步者的社区行动小组的象征性话语相对立,慢跑者、骑马者和遛狗者。分析的重点是在郊区公园的背景下,自然应该是什么样子以及它应该服务的目的是如何形成对立的论点的。该研究表明,植根于假定的科学和专业知识至高无上的自然的主导话语如何受到多价和上下文塑造的自然作为舒适性话语的挑战。