Intelligibility and the intricacies of knowledge and power in transnational activism for the rights of nature

Espinosa, C.

Intelligibility and the intricacies of knowledge and power in transnational activism for the rights of nature

Espinosa, C.: Intelligibility and the intricacies of knowledge and power in transnational activism for the rights of nature Environmental Sociology, 2019. : http://10.1080/23251042.2018.1564456

Originalarbeiten in wissenschaftlichen Fachzeitschriften

Rights of nature are promoted by transnational activists with various backgrounds. These include legal scholars, environmentalists, and indigenous leaders from the Global North and the Global South. These actors converge in their support for the reconceptualization of nature as a subject with legally enforceable rights. How is this ideational convergence fostered across different actors? What knowledge politics are configured? This article focuses on these questions drawing insights from the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse. Democracy Schools and Awakening the Dreamer Symposia are studied as special events in which elements of transnational activism for the rights of nature become intelligible to potential adherents. These components are systematically reconstructed to reveal that this collective endeavour is underpinned by an ‘interpretive repertoire’, which stress the need to reform legal systems to extend rights to entities that formerly did not have them; the intrinsic value of the natural components of Earth; the physical limits of the planet; the wisdom and harmony reflected in the relationships of non-western cultures with nature; and human beings’ stewardship role of nature. Such reconstructed discursive foundation is the basis for exploring intricate links between knowledge and power in environmental politics.

http://10.1080/23251042.2018.1564456