The Power of Narrative in Environmental Networks (American and Comparative Environmental Policy) - Softcover

Lejano, Raul; Ingram, Mrill; Ingram, Research Fellow Southwest Center University Of Arizonaprofessor Emeritus University Of Californi Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262519577 ISBN 13: 9780262519571

Publisher: MIT Press, 2013

Synopsis

Theory and case studies demonstrate the analytic potential of mutually constitutive “narrative networks” in environmental governance.

For as long has humans have lived in communities, storytelling has bound people to each other and to their environments. In recent times, scholars have noted how social networks arise around issues of resource and ecological management. In this book, Raul Lejano, Mrill Ingram, and Helen Ingram argue that stories, or narratives, play a key role in these networks―that environmental communities “narrate themselves into existence.” The authors propose the notion of the narrative-network, and introduce innovative tools to analyze the plots, characters, and events that inform environmental action. Their analysis sheds light on how environmental networks can emerge in unlikely contexts and sustain themselves against great odds.

The authors present three case studies that demonstrate the power of narrative and narratology in the analysis of environmental networks: a conservation network in the Sonoran Desert, which achieved some success despite U.S.-Mexico border issues; a narrative that bridged differences between community and scientists in the Turtle Islands; and networks of researchers and farmers who collaborated to develop and sustain alternative agriculture practice in the face of government inaction. These cases demonstrate that by paying attention to language and storytelling, we can improve our understanding of environmental behavior and even change it in positive ways.

About this title

About the Author:

Raul Lejano is Associate Professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University and the author of Frameworks for Policy Analysis: Merging Text and Context.

Review:

Clearly written and illustrated by rich case studies, this book establishes a powerful argument for the role of narrative in creating the identities that establish and maintain social networks tackling the complex and difficult challenges of social and ecological sustainability. The Power of Narrative in Environmental Networks is a must-read for social theorists and environmental practitioners alike.

―Steve Rayner, James Martin Professor of Science and Civilization, Oxford University

In recent years, narrative analysis has begun to receive the attention that it deserves in political and policy inquiry. Lejano, Ingram, and Ingram not only illustrate the importance of such narrative analysis in methodological terms, they also offer case examples that demonstrate both how it works and what we learn from it. What is more, the three case narratives make an essential contribution to our understanding of the role of environmental networks in the policy process. The book, in short, is an impressive addition to the literature.

―Frank Fischer, Professor of Politics and Global Affairs, Rutgers University

This book is quite important, in that it opens the path to new ways of studying social interactions of all kinds, a path that blends detailed interviews with what is in the end a literary sensibility. It is an integration of social science and the arts, an approach that is in some ways less precise than social science in imitation of the natural sciences but an exploration that is equally valid and useful as a way of understanding human interactions. I thank the authors for an enjoyable read.

―Robert Paehlke, Professor Emeritus, Environmental and Resource Studies, Trent University, Professor Emeritus, Environmental and Resource Studies, Trent University

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0262519577
• ISBN 13: 9780262519571
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 225