Rangeland Ecology & Management

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ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSES IN BORANA OROMO: A FOCUS ON NARRATIVES
Author
Tafesse, Teshome T.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2014
Body

This study explored the discourses of environmental narratives as an organized, viable, and dynamic social force basic to the creation and dissemination of environmental messages in Borana Oromo of the southern Ethiopia. Under this major objective, the study discovered environmental beliefs and values, investigated environmental knowledge, power and ideology, and identified environmental positions the community has situated itself in. The study employed a qualitative approach in the analysis of data gathered through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and extended participant and non-participant observations. The analysis was based on Fairclough's three-dimensional methodological approach of discourse analysis, which is helpful for elaborating empirically based theories. The findings revealed dominant environmental beliefs and values, which are organized under discourses of environmental necessity and survival, scarcity and security, hopelessness, inclusion and exclusion, seniority, responsibility, and obedience and disobedience. The findings also unveiled that Borana narratives are embedded with environmental ideologies- interdependence and communalism, which are deep rooted in the social, cultural, religious and political context of the community. The findings, as part of the environmental discourses, also investigated aspects of the indigenous environmental knowledge of the Borana community. The findings also revealed that human-environment power relationships in the narratives are manifested in many ways including humans' possession of environmental knowledge and struggle to secure their lives (both materially and spiritually). The study also disclosed two dominant environmental positions-ecocentrism and restrained anthropocentrism that humans assume in their interactions with the natural environment in the community. The significance of the study, thus, principally lies on what makes sense locally concerning modern environmental communication. The study contributes to the field of environmental discourse analysis both theoretically and practically, and offers implications for environmental workers, policy designers, educators, and curriculum developers.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Orlando, FL