Feelings and fellings: exploring the process of communication in forest management conflicts

Elin Ångman

Feelings and fellings: exploring the process of communication in forest management conflicts

Elin Ångman

Institutionen för stad och land

Publikation: Avhandling › Doktorsavhandling

5 Nedladdningar

Sammanfattning

Det sätt på vilket vi kommunicerar om skogsfrågor har konsekvenser för hur skogarna sköts. Politiska styrdokument såväl som forskning inom demokrati och naturresursförvaltning hävdar att allmänhetens deltagande i naturresursförvaltning leder till en bredare kunskapsbas och mer hållbara beslut om miljön. Denna avhandling syftar till att öka förståelsen om hur människors sätt att kommunicera om en naturresurs, såsom ett skogsområde, påverkar de beslut som fattas om naturresursen. Denna fråga undersöktes genom att studera hur individer som deltar i naturresurshanterig tolkar konflikter och andra människors handlingar, och hur denna tolkningsprocess är kopplad till hur de agerar. Det empiriska materialet bestod av tre fallstudier av skogsskötsel: Ett fall av deltagande observation av en samrådsprocess och två fall av konflikter kring slutavverkning av skog studerade via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska materialet analyserades med hjälp av begreppen ”undvikande av förlägenhet” och ”diskursiv stängning”. Resultaten tyder på att situationer där människor känner sig osäkra i den roll de förväntas inneha skapar negativa förväntningar som får dem att undvika direkta möten med andra aktörer. Det finns många olika förväntningar på aktörer i samrådsmöten, vilket leder till diskursiva stängningar, dvs. ett undertryckande av vissa ämnen i diskussionen. Detta sker för att aktörerna vill undvika rollförvirring och därmed förlägenhet. Undvikande av förlägenhet och diskursiv stängning i människors interaktion med varandra, i olika situationer där naturresurser ska hanteras, får negativa konsekvenser för lyssnande, lärande och kunskapsutbyte. Slutsatsen i denna avhandling är ett medvetet fokus på att skapa mötesplatser där rollförvirring accepteras kan ligga till grund för diskussioner där fler perspektiv lyfts, där den gemensamma kunskapsbasen ökar och på så sätt möjliggöra ett mer hållbart beslutsfattande när det gäller naturresurser.

Originalspråk	Engelska
Kvalifikation	Doktor i filosofi
Förlag	Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Tryckta ISBN	978-91-576-7648-1
Status	Publicerad - 2012

Nyckelord

Sweden
communication
conflict
discursive closure
embarrassment
final felling
forest management
public participation
symbolic interaction

SLU-serie

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae

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title = "Feelings and fellings: exploring the process of communication in forest management conflicts",

abstract = "The way we communicate about forest issues has consequences for how forests are managed. Policies and research suggest that public participation in natural resource management (NRM) leads to better informed and more sustainable decisions about the environment. This thesis seeks to increase understanding regarding how the way people communicate about a natural resource, such as a forested area, affects the decisions taken about that natural resource. This issue is investigated by studying how individuals involved in forest management interpret conflict, participation, and the actions of other people, and how this process of interpretation is connected to the way they act. The underlying assumption is that reality is socially constructed, and that this social construction is accomplished by people communicating with each other, via symbolic interaction. The empirical material consisted of three case studies of forest management, one case of participant observation in two participatory meetings and two cases of conflict concerning final fellings of forest studied via semi-structured interviews. The empirical material was analyzed using the concepts of avoidance of embarrassment and discursive closure. The findings suggest that situations where people feel insecure about the role they are expected to play create anticipation of embarrassment and causes them to avoid face-to-face meetings. The findings also show that actors in participatory meetings have numerous different expectations on them, leading to discursive closures, i.e., suppression of certain subjects in the discussion, in order to avoid role confusion and hence embarrassment. Avoidance of embarrassment and discursive closure in people's interactions with each other, in conflict and in participation, have negative impacts on listening and learning and knowledge exchange. The conclusion in this thesis is that a conscious focus on creating meeting spaces where role confusion is accepted can create discussions where more perspectives are raised, the common knowledge base is increased, and more sustainable decision-making concerning natural resources is possible.",

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N2 - The way we communicate about forest issues has consequences for how forests are managed. Policies and research suggest that public participation in natural resource management (NRM) leads to better informed and more sustainable decisions about the environment. This thesis seeks to increase understanding regarding how the way people communicate about a natural resource, such as a forested area, affects the decisions taken about that natural resource. This issue is investigated by studying how individuals involved in forest management interpret conflict, participation, and the actions of other people, and how this process of interpretation is connected to the way they act. The underlying assumption is that reality is socially constructed, and that this social construction is accomplished by people communicating with each other, via symbolic interaction. The empirical material consisted of three case studies of forest management, one case of participant observation in two participatory meetings and two cases of conflict concerning final fellings of forest studied via semi-structured interviews. The empirical material was analyzed using the concepts of avoidance of embarrassment and discursive closure. The findings suggest that situations where people feel insecure about the role they are expected to play create anticipation of embarrassment and causes them to avoid face-to-face meetings. The findings also show that actors in participatory meetings have numerous different expectations on them, leading to discursive closures, i.e., suppression of certain subjects in the discussion, in order to avoid role confusion and hence embarrassment. Avoidance of embarrassment and discursive closure in people's interactions with each other, in conflict and in participation, have negative impacts on listening and learning and knowledge exchange. The conclusion in this thesis is that a conscious focus on creating meeting spaces where role confusion is accepted can create discussions where more perspectives are raised, the common knowledge base is increased, and more sustainable decision-making concerning natural resources is possible.

AB - The way we communicate about forest issues has consequences for how forests are managed. Policies and research suggest that public participation in natural resource management (NRM) leads to better informed and more sustainable decisions about the environment. This thesis seeks to increase understanding regarding how the way people communicate about a natural resource, such as a forested area, affects the decisions taken about that natural resource. This issue is investigated by studying how individuals involved in forest management interpret conflict, participation, and the actions of other people, and how this process of interpretation is connected to the way they act. The underlying assumption is that reality is socially constructed, and that this social construction is accomplished by people communicating with each other, via symbolic interaction. The empirical material consisted of three case studies of forest management, one case of participant observation in two participatory meetings and two cases of conflict concerning final fellings of forest studied via semi-structured interviews. The empirical material was analyzed using the concepts of avoidance of embarrassment and discursive closure. The findings suggest that situations where people feel insecure about the role they are expected to play create anticipation of embarrassment and causes them to avoid face-to-face meetings. The findings also show that actors in participatory meetings have numerous different expectations on them, leading to discursive closures, i.e., suppression of certain subjects in the discussion, in order to avoid role confusion and hence embarrassment. Avoidance of embarrassment and discursive closure in people's interactions with each other, in conflict and in participation, have negative impacts on listening and learning and knowledge exchange. The conclusion in this thesis is that a conscious focus on creating meeting spaces where role confusion is accepted can create discussions where more perspectives are raised, the common knowledge base is increased, and more sustainable decision-making concerning natural resources is possible.

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