Culture for sale? ‘Traditional’ Practices, Institutions and Values as Commodity in Nature-based Tourism

Projekt prekogranične zaštite i razvoja Maloti Drakensberg između Južne Afrike i Lesota je prekogranična inicijativa za očuvanje okoliša koja istodobno ima za cilj očuvanje biološke raznolikosti i poticanje gospodarskog razvoja lokalnog stanovništva. To će se postići putem turističke djelatnosti utemeljene na prirodi. Ona će, kako tvrdimo, isticati određene običaje, institucije i vrijednosti lokalnog stanovništva, a zanemarivati druge, time ih ponovno osmišljavajući kao dio ‘tradicijske kulture’ u kontekstu očuvanja. Prikazujući dvije studije primjera također tvrdimo da turizam u prirodi relativizira i komercijalizira ove elemente načina života označavajući ih kao ‘tradicionalne’, podređujući ih time ekonomskim i ekološkim interesima.The Maloti Drakenberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Project between South Africa and Lesotho is a transfrontier conservation initiative that simultaneously aims at conserving biodiversity and fostering the economic development of the local population. This is to be attained via nature-based tourism activities. These, I argue, highlight certain practices, institutions and values of the local population while neglecting others, thereby reinventing them as part of a ‘traditional culture’ in the conservation context. Illustrated by two case studies I also argue that nature-based tourism reifies and commoditizes these elements of lifestyles by labeling them ‘traditional’, making them serve economic or environmental interests

Culture for sale? ‘Traditional’ Practices, Institutions and Values as Commodity in Nature-based Tourism

Projekt prekogranične zaštite i razvoja Maloti Drakensberg između Južne Afrike i Lesota je prekogranična inicijativa za očuvanje okoliša koja istodobno ima za cilj očuvanje biološke raznolikosti i poticanje gospodarskog razvoja lokalnog stanovništva. To će se postići putem turističke djelatnosti utemeljene na prirodi. Ona će, kako tvrdimo, isticati određene običaje, institucije i vrijednosti lokalnog stanovništva, a zanemarivati druge, time ih ponovno osmišljavajući kao dio ‘tradicijske kulture’ u kontekstu očuvanja. Prikazujući dvije studije primjera također tvrdimo da turizam u prirodi relativizira i komercijalizira ove elemente načina života označavajući ih kao ‘tradicionalne’, podređujući ih time ekonomskim i ekološkim interesima.The Maloti Drakenberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Project between South Africa and Lesotho is a transfrontier conservation initiative that simultaneously aims at conserving biodiversity and fostering the economic development of the local population. This is to be attained via nature-based tourism activities. These, I argue, highlight certain practices, institutions and values of the local population while neglecting others, thereby reinventing them as part of a ‘traditional culture’ in the conservation context. Illustrated by two case studies I also argue that nature-based tourism reifies and commoditizes these elements of lifestyles by labeling them ‘traditional’, making them serve economic or environmental interests

Pluralising the European energy landscape: Collective renewable energy prosumers and the EU's clean energy vision

To fulfil the European Union's (EU) goal of providing ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans', a transformative shift from centralised, fossil-fuel based systems to decentralised systems based on renewable energy sources (RES) is envisaged. Keen to lead the clean energy transition while embedding technological innovation and elements of justice and equitability into the envisioned ‘Energy Union’, EU Member States need their citizens on board as active participants. Prosumerism or self-consumption is an important part of this citizen involvement. While the new EU regulatory framework for energy now recognises civic-inspired prosumer initiatives such as energy communities, little is known about the full range and diversity of collective actors in renewable energy self-consumption as well as how they engage with the changing energy system. This paper presents an exploratory categorisation of the different collective social actors that produce and consume energy from renewable sources, referred to as ‘collective RES prosumers’, aiming to clarify their participation in the energy landscape. We find six categories with different engagement and needs, which we relate to the EU's current framing of collective energy actors. We recommend fine-tuning policies to the different actors to support a true-to-vision transposition of the recently completed Clean Energy Package (CEP).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contributing to sustainable and just energy systems? The mainstreaming of renewable energy prosumerism within and across institutional logics

Renewable energy (RE) prosumerism comes with promises and expectations of contributing to sustainable and just energy systems. In its current process of becoming mainstream, numerous challenges and doubts have arisen whether it will live up to these. Building on insights from sustainability transitions research and institutional theory, this article unpacks the mainstreaming by considering the range of institutional arrangements and logics through which these contributions might be secured. Taking a Multi-actor Perspective, it analyses the differences, combinations, and tensions between institutional logics, associated actor roles and power relations. Firstly, it unpacks how mainstreaming occurs through mechanisms of bureaucratisation and standardisation (state logic), marketisation and commodification (market logic), as well as socialisation and communalisation (community logic). Secondly, it highlights the concomitant hybridisation of institutional logics and actor roles. Such hybrid institutional arrangements try to reconcile not only the more known trade-offs and tensions between for-profit/non-profit logics (regarding the distribution of benefits for energy activities and resources), but also between formal/informal logics (gaining recognition) and public/private logics (delineating access). This institutional concreteness moves the scholarly discussion and policy debate beyond idealistic discussions of ethical principles and abstract discussions about power: Simplistic framings of ‘prosumerism vs incumbents’ are dropped in favour of a critical discussion of hybrid institutional arrangements and their capacity to safeguard particular transformative ideals and normative commitments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry

Society is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the interest of progressive political actors and critical scholars. Occurring in the form of new modes of governance and alternative ways of working and living together, TSI involves the challenging, altering or replacing of dominant institutions. As documented in various strands of critical social inquiry and innovation research, TSI praxis is pervaded with contradictions, anomalies and paradoxes. This methodological contribution addresses the challenge that tends to remain: How to elaborate this general critical awareness into more operational ‘strategies of inquiry’? The paper discusses paradoxes of a) system reproduction, b) temporality, and c) reality construction. Identifying distinct kinds of contradictions and distinct empirical phenomena, this differentiation also calls attention to the associated differences between realist, processual and constructivist research philosophies. Gathering the empirical analyses, theoretical interpretations and methodological advances that have been made on these paradoxes, this contribution opens up the scope for critical and practically relevant innovation research: It is important to bridge the divide between rigorous but sterile methodological know-how, and critical-reflexive theorizing that lacks operational insights.Society is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the interest of progressive political actors and critical scholars. Occurring in the form of new modes of governance and alternative ways of working and living together, TSI involves the challenging, altering or replacing of dominant institutions. As documented in various strands of critical social inquiry and innovation research, TSI praxis is pervaded with contradictions, anomalies and paradoxes. This methodological contribution addresses the challenge that tends to remain: How to elaborate this general critical awareness into more operational ‘strategies of inquiry’? The paper discusses paradoxes of a) system reproduction, b) temporality, and c) reality construction. Identifying distinct kinds of contradictions and distinct empirical phenomena, this differentiation also calls attention to the associated differences between realist, processual and constructivist research philosophies. Gathering the empirical analyses, theoretical interpretations and methodological advances that have been made on these paradoxes, this contribution opens up the scope for critical and practically relevant innovation research: It is important to bridge the divide between rigorous but sterile methodological know-how, and critical-reflexive theorizing that lacks operational insights

Actor roles in transition: Insights from sociological perspectives

AbstractTo date, the field of transition research lacks a suitable vocabulary to analyse the (changing) interactions and relations of actors as part of a sustainability transition. This article addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the potential of the concept of ‘roles’ from social interaction research. The role concept is operationalized for transition research to allow the analysis of (changing) roles and relations between actor roles as indicative of changes in the social fabric and shared values, norms and beliefs. It also allows considering the use of roles as a transition governance intervention. This includes creating new roles, breaking down or altering existing ones and explicitly negotiating or purposefully assigning roles, as well as the flexible use of roles as resources

How to account for the dark sides of social innovation? Transitions directionality in renewable energy prosumerism

Social innovation is gaining attention as a pivotal dimension of socio-technical transitions with renewable energy prosumerism as a prominent example. However, this example also highlights that social innovation evokes concerns about purposes, beneficiaries, normative dilemmas and legitimacy. This paper addresses recent calls to confront the perceived ‘dark sides’ of social innovations. As debates on these dark sides often get stuck in either naive optimism or paralyzing critique, the paper investigates how transitions theory can inform nuanced understandings. The key concept is transitions directionality. The analysis shows how it conceptualizes the dark sides as manifestations of socio-technical path dependence, as disempowering ideological ‘landscape’ factors, as internal contradictions within institutionally complex regimes, as niche-regime dialectics, and as transition phases. Rather than proposing a particular normative position, the paper presents a heuristic that supports well-considered engagement with the dark sides

Game-changers and transformative social innovation

This editorial introduces the special feature on the role of game-changers, broadly conceptualized as macro-trends that change the “rules of the game,” in processes of transformative social innovation. First, the key concepts are introduced together with the academic workshop that brought together 25 scholars, from across a wide range of disciplines, to discuss the role of game-changers in transformative social innovation, resulting in the 9 contributions in this special feature. Second, the differing conceptualizations of the role of game-changers in transformative social innovation across the set of articles are discussed. Third, an overview is provided of the different empirical examples of game-changers and transformative social innovations addressed; examples were drawn from different geographical contexts across Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. Fourth, the differing epistemological approaches used to explain social change are noted, and lessons for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research on social change discussed. Finally, a synthesis is provided of the main insights and contributions to the literature

Contributing to sustainable and just energy systems? The mainstreaming of renewable energy prosumerism within and across institutional logics

Renewable energy (RE) prosumerism comes with promises and expectations of contributing to sustainable and just energy systems. In its current process of becoming mainstream, numerous challenges and doubts have arisen whether it will live up to these. Building on insights from sustainability transitions research and institutional theory, this article unpacks the mainstreaming by considering the range of institutional arrangements and logics through which these contributions might be secured. Taking a Multi-actor Perspective, it analyses the differences, combinations, and tensions between institutional logics, associated actor roles and power relations. Firstly, it unpacks how mainstreaming occurs through mechanisms of bureaucratisation and standardisation (state logic), marketisation and commodification (market logic), as well as socialisation and communalisation (community logic). Secondly, it highlights the concomitant hybridisation of institutional logics and actor roles. Such hybrid institutional arrangements try to reconcile not only the more known trade-offs and tensions between for-profit/non-profit logics (regarding the distribution of benefits for energy activities and resources), but also between formal/informal logics (gaining recognition) and public/private logics (delineating access). This institutional concreteness moves the scholarly discussion and policy debate beyond idealistic discussions of ethical principles and abstract discussions about power: Simplistic framings of ‘prosumerism vs incumbents’ are dropped in favour of a critical discussion of hybrid institutional arrangements and their capacity to safeguard particular transformative ideals and normative commitments