In 2019, the occurrence of forest fires in the Amazon rainforest gained worldwide attention. Actors at different political levels thereby exhibited conflicting understandings of the issue,...Show moreIn 2019, the occurrence of forest fires in the Amazon rainforest gained worldwide attention. Actors at different political levels thereby exhibited conflicting understandings of the issue, appropriate responses to it and responsibility to be taken. As linkages were drawn between the perception of the rainforest fires as a global environmental problem, and ramifications for the pursuance of economic interests, the case of the political discussion around the 2019 Amazon rainforest fires is illustrative of valuations of the environment within a Global Political Economy (GPE) context. In order to further understanding of these valuations, this thesis looks into the use of particular conceptions of nature-society relations and spatial scales, which both come forward in political ecology literature. Through a textual analysis of statements by civil society actors, Amazonian countries and foreign governments, it finds that ecological change is made political, and political legitimacy is created or limited for different involved actors, through references to the value of the Amazon rainforest and the scale of this value. This leads to the conclusion that conceptions of nature-society relations and spatial scales reflect and have implications for the ways in which we define environmental problems, politicize the environment and allocate forms of environmental responsibility to different actors.Show less
In 2019, the occurrence of forest fires in the Amazon rainforest gained worldwide attention. Actors at different political levels thereby exhibited conflicting understandings of the issue,...Show moreIn 2019, the occurrence of forest fires in the Amazon rainforest gained worldwide attention. Actors at different political levels thereby exhibited conflicting understandings of the issue, appropriate responses to it and responsibility to be taken. As linkages were drawn between the perception of the rainforest fires as a global environmental problem, and ramifications for the pursuance of economic interests, the case of the political discussion around the 2019 Amazon rainforest fires is illustrative of valuations of the environment within a Global Political Economy (GPE) context. In order to further understanding of these valuations, this thesis looks into the use of particular conceptions of nature-society relations and spatial scales, which both come forward in political ecology literature. Through a textual analysis of statements by civil society actors, Amazonian countries and foreign governments, it finds that ecological change is made political, and political legitimacy is created or limited for different involved actors, through references to the value of the Amazon rainforest and the scale of this value. This leads to the conclusion that conceptions of nature-society relations and spatial scales reflect and have implications for the ways in which we define environmental problems, politicize the environment and allocate forms of environmental responsibility to different actors.Show less
The ways in which actors conceptualize and communicate about the environment-migration nexus is fundamental in world politics. The contemporary discourse on the relationship between migration and...Show moreThe ways in which actors conceptualize and communicate about the environment-migration nexus is fundamental in world politics. The contemporary discourse on the relationship between migration and the environment is predominantly manifested within an adaptation framework. The Netherlands is, because of its reputation in adaptation, a unique case to analyze the ‘politics of causal claims’ with regard to the environment-migration nexus. By conducting a critical discourse analysis on policy documents and websites, this paper contributes to the literature on political ecology by examining how and why the relationship between migration and the environment is conceptualized in the discourse of the Dutch government. This analysis reveals that in the discourse of the Dutch government, a discursive subject has been created that is deemed to migrate in the light of environmental change. Exporting Dutch expertise in adaptation is presented as the solution to the ‘future threat’ of climate-induced migration. A paradigm shift within the neoliberal framework of Dutch development policies allowed adaptation to become instrumentalized as a business case to tap into emerging economies abroad. Future research could therefore shed light on whether a ‘trade as adaptation’ narrative exist or whether the Netherlands is a sui generis entity.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
In the age of the Anthropocene, we are faced with unprecedented challenges; we have realized we are exploiting the Earth’s resources, society is becoming more complex, and urbanization is...Show moreIn the age of the Anthropocene, we are faced with unprecedented challenges; we have realized we are exploiting the Earth’s resources, society is becoming more complex, and urbanization is increasing at a rate never before witnessed. Understanding these challenges is loaded with uncertainty, both in defining the problems and how humanity should respond. One response is that of urban sustainability. Primarily addressed from the perspective of urban planning, urban sustainability focuses on infrastructural and technological solutions. This thesis posits that questions of sustainability in cities however cannot be disconnected from the cultural dimension. Using a comparative case study of two festivals – Burning Man and DGTL Amsterdam – the relationship between humans and their surroundings is explored. The analysis of the festivals focuses on the manifestation of ‘sustainability’ as a set of values through the artworks presented on the festival terrain and the framing of the festival experience. Political ecology theories are used as tools to explore the relationship between humans and their environment. Urban experimentation acts as a theoretical lens to understand the festival as a ‘microcosm’, a breeding ground for creativity and culture, and likening it to the city. The thesis presents a reading of urban festivals that outlines how culture can be introduced to urban sustainability research in response to questions to test political ecology in practice. In doing so, the thesis brings together the once disparate categories of human and nature.Show less
In the first part the base of my research will be the landscape and more specifically the nuclear radiated landscape as visualized in the artistic medium of film and video. The post human landscape...Show moreIn the first part the base of my research will be the landscape and more specifically the nuclear radiated landscape as visualized in the artistic medium of film and video. The post human landscape caused by nuclear radiation has alienated man from nature will be discussed by framing this landscape in the ecological rethinking of T.J Demos and Timothy Morton. Their focus is on the eco-critical debates by Felix Guattari, Bruno Latour and Michel Serres who started these debates in the 90s. I will content that these debates are able to contribute to a changing perspective, a better understanding of our relation with the Earth and the value of sustainability. Art is able to offer innovative ways to communicate important insights into human relationships with the radiated landscape. I will analyse the object-subject relationship between the observed landscape and the observer. How consciousness is attained by the construction and deconstruction of subjectivity in cultural practices that enables awareness and provokes action. In the first part I will analyse two critical art practices, realized by Diana Thater and the Otolith Group, that research the consequences of the radiated landscape of Chernobyl and Fukushima. As such, I will contend that the medium of film as used in the analysed artworks has the ability to construct and deconstruct subjectivity, overcoming the gap between object and subject, whilst creating consciousness and awareness that makes an appeal to activism. In the second part of this thesis, the artistic statement of my film installation will be expressed elucidating the decontaminating activities of the landscape in Fukushima three years after the nuclear disaster struck this area in Japan. As a visual artist I realized the film installation aware/哀れ consisting of a short experimental film with a composed soundscape that illustrates the subjective experience of the landscape and an interview film in which the relation of the Japanese cleaners with the contaminated landscape is expressed. The installation researches and questions the complex mutual engagement between the man-made landscape and a sustainable future. Next to the film installation two photographs are exhibited, cyanotypes portraying a landscape that is inflicted by the nuclear now. My theoretical research as described in the first part of this thesis is at the base of this installation. The film installation was shown in an exhibition in the Japan museum SieboldHuis in Leiden, The Netherlands from 10 till 22 February 2015 as part of this thesis.Show less
