Beyond Narratives: Civic Epistemologies and the Coproduction of Environmental Knowledge and Popular Environmentalism in Thailand

Abstract

Popular environmentalism can have limited democratic outcomes if it reproduces structures of social order. This article seeks to advance understandings of environmental democratization by examining the analytical framework of civic epistemologies as a complement to the current use of environmental narratives in political ecology and science and technology studies. Civic epistemologies are the preexisting dimensions of political order that the state and other actors seek to maintain as unchallengeable. They add to current analysis because they show the structures around which narratives form, as well as how knowledge and political agencies of different actors are coproduced in reductive ways. The article applies this analysis to popular environmentalism in Thailand and especially concerning community forests and logging from 1968 to present. Using a combination of interviews and content analysis of historic newspaper reporting, the article shows how diverse actors—including state, elite conservationists, and peasant activists—have organized political activism and ecological claims about forests according to unchallenged norms of appropriate community culture and behavior. These actions have kept narratives about forests and society in place and worked against alternative and arguably more empowering visions of communities and forests in recent years. The article argues that revealing civic epistemologies can contribute to a deeper form of environmental democratization than engaging in environmental politics based on existing narratives or analyzing the limitations of narratives alone. Key Words: authoritarianism, environmentalism, political ecology, science and technology studies, Thailand.

大众环境主义若再生产社会秩序结构的话, 则可能产生有限的民主成果。本文通过检视公民认识论的分析架构, 补充政治生态学和科学与技术研究的环境叙事的当前使用, 寻求推进我们对于环境民主化的理解。公民认识论是先于国家及其他行动者企图维持不容挑战的政治秩序的存在面向。它们以还原的方式显示叙事形成的结构, 以及不同行动者的知识与政治主体如何共同生产, 因而扩充当前的分析。本文将此一分析运用至泰国的大众环境主义, 并特别关照1968年至今的社区森林与伐木。本文结合访谈与历史新闻报导的内容分析, 展现多样的行动者——包括国家、环境保育菁英, 以及农民运动倡议者——如何遵循适当的社区文化与行为的未受挑战之常规, 组织有关森林的政治倡议与生态宣称。近年来, 这些行动维护有关森林与社会的叙事, 同时反对对社区和森林而言可说更具培力远见的另类方案。本文主张, 揭露公民认识论, 能够较根据既有叙事涉入环境政治、抑或是单独分析叙事的限制而言, 对更深刻的环境民主化形式做出贡献。关键词：威权主义, 环境主义, 政治生态学, 科学与技术研究, 泰国。

El ambientalismo popular puede generar resultados democráticos limitados si reproduce estructuras del orden social. Este artículo busca avanzar en el entendimiento de la democratización ambiental examinando el marco analítico de epistemologías cívicas como complemento del actual uso de las narrativas ambientales en ecología y ciencia políticas, y en estudios de tecnología. Las epistemologías cívicas son las dimensiones preexistentes del orden político que el estado y otros actores buscan mantener como indisputable. Aquellas contribuyen al análisis actual porque muestran las estructuras alrededor de las cuales se forman las narrativas, así como el conocimiento y las agencias políticas de diferentes actores son coproducidos de maneras reductivas. El artículo aplica este análisis al ambientalismo popular de Tailandia y especialmente con respecto a comunidades forestales y madereras, desde 1968 hasta el presente. Usando una combinación de entrevistas y análisis de contenido de reportajes históricos de periódico, el artículo muestra el modo como diversos actores—incluyendo el estado, las élites conservacionistas y los activistas campesinos—han organizado el activismo político y los reclamos ecológicos sobre los bosques de acuerdo con normas no disputadas de cultura y comportamiento comunitarios apropiados. Estas acciones han mantenido en su lugar las narrativas acerca de los bosques y la sociedad, y trabajaron contra visiones de empoderamiento de comunidades y bosques supuestamente mayores, en años recientes. El artículo sostiene que las epistemologías cívicas reveladoras pueden contribuir a una forma más profunda de democratización ambiental que comprometerse con una política ambiental basada en las narrativas existentes, o mediante el análisis de las limitaciones de las propias narrativas.

• Palabras clave: ambientalismo
• autoritarismo
• ecología política
• estudios de ciencia y tecnología
• Tailandia

Notes

Notes

1 Indeed, Spicer (2013) noted, “The ideographs and narratives that we use are not simply words. They constitute who we are, and they can have consequences for us, both good and bad” (771). It should be noted that this socially constructivist application of narratives is different from the more cognitive “analytical narratives” espoused by Bates et al. (1998).

2 This statement is commonly attributed to Philip Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post from 1946 to 1963.

3 Online searching was conducted through the Factiva database (https://www.dowjones.com/products/factiva/).

4 The researcher speaks and writes Thai, although he works faster in English.

5 In particular, some especially notable long-term specialists on environmentalism at the Bangkok Post include Sanitsuda Ekichai, Supara Janchitfah, and Wasant Techawongtham, all of whom have been interviewed in relation to this work.

6 Alleged encroachment especially took place in Chaiayphum, Phitsanulok, Si Saket, and Chantaburi provinces (“Trespassers Into National Parks” 1973; “Villagers Can Settle in Forest” 1975; “Students Ask Government” 1976).

7 Government reforestation during 1986 and 1987 became known as “Green Isaan” partly because of the color of army uniforms. Isaan is the Thai name for the northeast. Similar reforestation and resettlement in Isaan was attempted during the Khor Jor Kor program of the early 1990s (Pye 2005b).

8 Two important early conservation groups were the Association for Conservation of Wildlife and the Society for the Conservation of Treasure and the Environment.

9 Other environmental topics such as dams, pollution, agriculture, tourism development, and so on, are not included in these figures.

10 A further example is resistance to government plans to relocate Karen villagers from the Kaeng Krachan forest in western Thailand, which has repeated the usual representation of the Karen. See “Respect Rights of the Karen” (2018).

11 In particular, Fahn pointed to the corrupting influence of General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who was prime minister in 1996–1997, as an example of a politician who supported business interests that threatened forest conservation.

12 Interview with Rathaya Janthien, 1999. This statement was based on the record of an aviator who flew from Bangkok northeast to the Mekong River and claimed to have seen no gaps in the forest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tim Forsyth

TIM FORSYTH is a Professor in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include environment and development, especially relating to the governance of contested knowledge claims and expertise, particularly in Asia.