Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
their arguments. Several popular global story-lines are invoked to support
avoiding the use of i re, including 'biodiversity maintenance', protection of
'endangered species', expansion of 'valuable rainforests' and maintenance
of 'sustainable populations' of wildlife. Little attempt is made to bridge
the 'global' of the scientists with the 'local' of the Wattle Hills residents
and yet, without this, the 'anti' discourse coalition remains discursively
weak.
Applying Dryzek's analytic framework
The i rst part of the Dryzek framework concerns the identii cation of
actors' discourses with his typology of four societal discourses on environ-
mental issues. Table 6.2 represents an attempt to classify the discourses
and sub-discourses present in the transcript in terms of Dryzek's catego-
ries. This displays some dii culties. It was not possible to assign actors'
discourses to Dryzek's categories in a simple and non-contestable way.
For example, the Aboriginal discourse can be considered to fall into
both the survivalism and green radicalism categories. There is a clear
radical strand to their discourse; the emphasis on the colonial history of
European settlement and repression marks it as such. While the status quo
of the established political economy is not challenged directly, it is implied
that Aboriginal rights should have priority over other concerns, includ-
ing any economic imperative. There is a tension, however, between much
of the tone of the Aboriginal presentations, which is distinctly prosaic,
and the sub-text, which emphasizes the distinctive spiritual claims of the
Aborigines. The latter is clearly imaginative not prosaic. The emphasis on
the prosaic in this particular context may be a strategic discursive decision
Table 6.2
Applying Dryzek's discourses
Prosaic
Imaginative
Reformist
Problem- solving discourse
Government scientists
Independent scientists (less
critical discourse)
Pastoralists
Sustainability discourse
Pastoralists
Radical
Survivalism discourse
Aborigines (everyday
management discourse)
Independent scientists (more
critical discourse)
Wattle Hills (everyday
management discourse)
Green radicalism discourse
Aborigines (underlying
spiritual discourse)
Wattle Hills (self-sui ciency
discourse)
