GLOBAL WARNING AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE ENCOUNTER OF GLOBAL AND LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE DISCOURSES IN THE BAMENDA GRASSFIELDS, CAMEROON SARA DE WIT AFRICAN STUDIES CENTRE, LEIDEN Research Master Thesis in African Studies African Studies Centre (ASC), Leiden University February 2011 “Global Warning” Sara de Wit (
[email protected]) Supervisors Prof. dr. Mirjam de Bruijn Prof. dr. Wouter van Beek i For my father, brother and sister Sharing in your love is a wonderful experience ii Table of contents CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1.1 What this thesis is about, problem statement, chapter outline………………………………………………………….…1 CHAPTER TWO: Theoretical and methodological considerations 2.1 The scope of study: from Kyoto to the Bamenda Grassfields and back to Copenhagen………………………17 2.2 Travelling discourses: Studying global and local connectivity……………………………………………………………..20 2.3 Social constructivism as an alternative ‘lens’……………………………………………………………………………………..27 2.3.1 Media(ted) discourses of science and politics…………………………………………………………………….30 2.3.2 Science and its struggle for ‘truth’………………………………………………………………………………………33 2.4 The power of discourses, or discourses as power………………………………………………………………………………37 2.4.1 Foucault’s notion of power/knowledge……………………………………………………………………………...40 CHAPTER THREE: Talking climate change into existence – The role of NGOs in disseminating the green message 3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….42 3.2 The modern environmental era: The social construction of climate change in historical perspective…48 3.2.1 Poetic