The Role of Conflict in Producing Alternative Social Imaginations of the Future

Greater resilience is associated with the ability to self-organise, and with social learning as part of a process of adaptation and transformation (Goldstein 341). This article deals with responses to a crisis in a Norwegian community in the late 1880s, and with some of the many internal conflicts it caused. The crisis and the subsequent conflicts in this particular community, Volda, were caused by a number of processes, driven mostly by external forces and closely linked to the expansion of the capitalist mode of production in rural Norway. But the crisis also reflects a growing nationalism in Norway. In the late 1880s, all these causes seemed to come together in Volda, a small community consisting mostly of independent small farmers and of fishers. The article employs the concept of ‘resilience’ and the theory of resilience in order better to understand how individuals and the community reacted to crisis and conflict in Volda in late 1880, experiences which will cast light on the history of the late 1880s in Volda, and on individuals and communities elsewhere which have also experienced such crises

From indios to indígenas: guerrilla perspectives on indigenous peoples and repression in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua

Subcomandante Marcos and other Zapatistas have on numerous occasions discussed the clash between “Northern” perspectives on revolution and the world, and indigenous reality. Understanding the meaning, for the insurgency, of the indigenous culture of the Zapatista support base has also been a major topic in the writing of many supporters of, and visitors to, the Zapatistas. But such an understanding of the history of the Zapatistas has consequences for our understanding of the conflicts between guerrilla organizations and indigenous peoples in Guatemala and Nicaragua during the 80s and 90s. This article seeks to contribute to our understanding of such issues based on studies of the Zapatistas and similar encounters between guerrilleros and indigenous peoples in Nicaragua and Guatemala. A better understanding of the clash between “Northern” perspectives and indigenous realities is a necessary prerequisite for understanding why some movements fail and others succeed. The relationship between armed groups and indigenous peoples had a powerful effect on the outcomes of the civil wars in the region. The root causes for the problems between indigenous peoples and guerrilla organizations are sought in, among other things, militaristic guerrilla organisations, marked by hierarchical, centralised and inflexible structures which did not facilitate the processes of learning. Learning to understand indigenous peoples and their worldviews would have been necessary to avoid the type of self-destructive behaviour that is described in this article. The experiences from Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico raises some important questions for future research on social movements also elsewhere: Who do the movements represent? What type of communication and learning goes on within the social movement? Are certain groups excluded from fully participating

Journalistic Narratives of Success and Failure at the Bali Climate Change Conference in 2007

This article investigates how journalists employed pre-defined culturally grounded meta-narratives and genres in journalistic communication of climate change at the Bali summit in 2007. The journalists investigated in this article are found to have constructed a variety of “protagonists”. The most typical is based on the representative from a “tiny” state that stood up to the “most powerful nation on earth”. Other varieties place the protagonists and helpers firmly within longer, well-known national narratives on nation and its role in the world. The constant ingredient in almost all narratives seems to be the construction of the “opponent”, with the USA universally portrayed as the opponent who has to be defeated in order for the desired goal to be achieved. A large majority of journalists in this selection systematically chose to construct narratives conforming to pre-defined genres, structuring and framing the information according to historically constructed notions of what the audience want. The need to construct a “good story” took precedence over the critical ideal of “informing society”. From a critical realism perspective, this is problematic because ontology must have priority over epistemology

Alternative journalism and the relationship between guerrillas and indigenous peoples in Latin America

Academic study of alternative journalism is dominated by an approach that celebrates alternative media for its capacity to “empower” citizens. Existing literature on alternative media and alternative journalism often highlight its potential for creating “spaces” where alternative voices can be heard and its value is seen in its contribution towards the construction of alternative “narratives”. While it is important to celebrate the role of alternative media, it is equally important to remain self-critical in order to learn from past experiences, especially when they raise important ethical questions on the type of alternative narratives or alternative truths produced and the solidarity actions these truths and narratives helped bring about. This is the case with much of the reporting in the alternative media on indigenous issues and rights during the civil wars in Nicaragua, Guatemala and, to a lesser extent, in Chiapas, Mexico. This article will try to engage critically with the history of European and North American alternative media reporting on indigenous issues in these countries during the 80s and 90s. The purpose is not to discuss empirical findings, but to reflect on theories that can guide future studies on alternative media and alternative journalism on the wars in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. This article will discuss the usefulness of theories and understandings of alternative media and journalism that builds on postmodern and post structural versions of social constructionism. The article offers a critique of postmodern and post structural versions of social constructionism in studies of alternative media and alternative journalism. The critique builds on previous critiques of social movement theory and research made by scholars writing from a critical realist perspective

Kjendisaktivisme - er det til gagn?

Fenomenet kjendisaktivisme veks grenselaust intern asjonalt, skriv Tsaliki, Frangonikolopoulos og Huliaras i ein antologi om fenomenet (Tsaliki, Frango- nikolopoulos & Huliaras 2011b: 29). Likevel, legg dei til, er lite gjort for å under- søke årsaker til og verknader av kjen disaktivisme i internasjonal politikk. Det er ikkje få superstjerner som har engasjert seg i internasjonale spørsmål dei siste åra. Til dømes har den amerikanske skodespelaren Mia Farrow tatt del i kampanjar for å presse Ki na til å gjere noko for å få slutt på borgarkrigen i Darfur i Sudan, Roger «James Bond» Moore arbeider for å bygge opp skular i Malawi, og skodespel ar Danny Glover engasjerer seg for å få større merksemd om dei alvorl ege konsekvensane av hiv/aids globalt. Det er vanleg å knyte framveksten av kjendisar av denne typen til utvik- linga av teknologi, massemedium og globaliseringa av filmbransjen. Kjen- diskulturen slo for alvor gjennom med veksten i avisbransjen og med tele- grambyråa frå midten av 1800 -talet. Men kvifor speler det ei rolle kva kjen- disar seier om internasjonale spørsmål? Denne artikkelen tek for seg nokre ferske tilskot til debatten om kjen- disaktivisme. Den vil syne korleis slik aktivisme har endra seg dei siste åra, men også korleis ulike typar kjen disar engasjerer seg ulike slag kon- fliktar og spørsmål. Arti kkelen byrjar med eit lite, lokalt døme for å syne nokre historiske røter

Revisiting social and deep ecology in the light of global warming

The purpose of this article is largely theoretical. It asks what type of perspective is needed in order for left libertarians and anarchists to develop a deeper understanding of global warming. This way of framing the question builds on a set of premises which I will spell out. First, global warming is real. Second, the reality of global warming exists independently of our discourse about it. Third, global warming will have real and dangerous consequences for humans and human society. Fourth, we do not have full knowledge about global warming and climate change, and we must reach a deeper understanding. Fifth, the urgency of global warming demands that we act before we know everything we want to know about it. Sixth, human societies have an inherently creative capacity to find solutions to the challenges posed by global warming. Ethical thinking about global warming cannot, therefore, be reduced to the realm of human consciousness, language and discourse; global warming forces us to rethink our relationship with nature and our possible paths to understanding nature and reality in a theoretically serious manner (in the Hegelian sense of the word ‘serious’) – that is, in terms of the unity between theory and praxis

Expectations, Challenges, and Expertise : The Importance of Non-Western Data Journalism

Peer reviewe

Indigenous and communitarian knowledges

As we were planning the project application for the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (Norhed), I was reading an article by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro titled ‘Cannibal metaphysics: Amerindian perspectivism’ (partially reprinted in Radical Philosophy). According to Peter Skafish in his introduction to the article, de Castro shows that ‘what falls under the domain of “social” and “human” relations for … Amazonian peoples’ is very broad. In fact, ‘animals, plants, spirits are all conceived as persons’ so that ‘modern distinctions between nature and culture, animals and humans, and even descent and marriage ties are effectively inverted’ (Skafish 2013: 15). At the same time, I had been reading a biography of Arne Næss (Gjefsen 2011). No one has influenced Norwegian thinking on matters such as philosophy of science more than the philosopher Næss. For decades, virtually all Norwegian students had his textbooks on philosophy and research methodologies on their reading list. However, in the 1950s other philosophers, such as Hans Skjervheim, began to view the textbooks on research methodologies as too narrowly focused on methodologies developed in the natural sciences, ignoring methodologies coming from the humanities. The critique led Næss to rewrite the textbooks to include chapters on hermeneutics and other methodologies from the humanities. Næss seemed to agree with his critics that methodologies imported from the natural sciences alone were not adequate to study human society. Subsequent developments in disciplines such as history and cultural studies seem to build on and underline this notion of difference between studying nature and studying society. My development as an academic took place within these debates. I was trained in research methodologies grounded in this supposed difference between studying society and studying nature. But what if indigenous peoples of the Amazon and elsewhere are right? How can research methodologies be developed where students do not take ‘modern distinctions between nature and culture, animals and humans, and even descent and marriage ties’ for granted? According to Koch and Weingart (2016), research methodologies can never be ‘transferred’ from one locality to another. Instead, methodologies are sampled, mixed and socially reconstructed. In this chapter, I take a reflexive approach to sampling, mixing and socially constructing research methodologies. I consider what happened during the Norhed project process and what this can tell us about encounters between Norwegian traditions of education and research and indigenous people’s perspectives on education and research. I try to shed light on this process by analysing what I see as a series of key moments. Ultimately, I hope to explain how and why indigenous and communitarian universities in Latin America are different from most universities participating in the Norhed programme

A symbiotic relationship: Norwegian diplomacy and Norwegian journalism on war and peace in Guatemala

This article deals with Norwegian journalism on the Guatemalan civil war and the peace process from 1990 to 1997. The author has examined all documents regarding the peace process in Guatemala registered in the archive of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the late 1980s to 1995 and interviewed most of the relevant Norwegian and Guatemalan sources. The results of the study show that Norwegian sources consistently dominated the reporting on Guatemala. The constructed understandings of Norwegian engagement with war and peace in Guatemala resonated with deep sentiments within Norwegian society. Norwegian journalists came to rely heavily on Norwegian diplomats and facilitators, not only for information, but also for the interpretation of the information