“Green is the color of my true love´s
dreams: How civil society actors
(could) gain (and lose) agency by
refiguring Green Nanotechnology
Stories”
Paper presented at the 8th International Conference in
Interpretive Policy Analysis Societies in Conflict: Experts, Publics
and Democracy, IPA2013, 3-5 July, Panel 65_Top Leaders or Toy
Soldiers? Reconsidering Discursive Agency in Policy Research
Willy Viehöver
University of Augsburg (Ger)
What the academic story is about …
• I. Narrative Governance and Agency: Narratives and
narrativization
• II. The case: Speaking Nanotechnogies „green“ in the
governance of knowledge production
• III. Meanings of narrative „form“ and narrative
„strategies“ for shaping agency
• IV. Preliminary findings: challenging the hegemony of
the green nanotechnology `reference´ narrative
I. On Narratives and Narrativization
• Human beings have ever been and still are story telling
animals. The Narrative is a discursive meta-code
transhistorical, transnational and transcultural in
character (Barthes)
• I will treat storytelling as a fundamental structured and
structurating “way of worldmaking” (Goodman),
leaving however spaces for creative imagination wide
open (Ricoeur).
• We are governed by narratives, but try hard to govern
narratives too (Ricoeur, Booth, Miller)
• This is a rather complex play between author, texts
(images, speech, symb. objects) and the reader
II. The Case
• Is there such thing as a discursive or narrative
governance of knowledge production in the
field of emerging nanotechnologies going on?
• Narrative structures are not only of major
importance in structuring discourse but in
shaping agency of the core actors involved
III. Three issues I´m going to touch …
• (a) Plot and emplotment (i.e. configuring
plots, actants, characters and action
• (b) Actants , characters and action and
interrelations
• (c) Some narratives devices and strategies:
Duration, frequency, voice and vision
(focalization)
a.) Plot and emplotment (Plot is a configured synthesis
of the heterogenous events, existents and characters;
Ricoeur)
• `WE´RE STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS´ …
• (example 3) “Two roads lie before the nanotechnology
community: business as usual and green nanotechnology.
Business as usual may or may not be sustainable and
friendly to the environment, yet it is the more heavily
traveled road. Green nanotechnology is currently the road
less traveled by, but taking that road could make all the
difference to the sustainability and long-term success of
this exciting new technology. Will we follow a green road
less traveled by and make all the difference?” (Karn 2008:
263)
• … `AND MIGHT COME OUT WITH A TECHNOLOGY WASHED
GREEN´
`LET´S GO GREY AGAIN´: CSOs attempts to
refigure the green nano narrative
• (example 5) “In a world increasingly concerned about climate change,
resource depletion, pollution and water shortages, nanotechnology has
been much heralded as a new environmental saviour. Proponents have
claimed that nanotechnology will deliver energy technologies that are
efficient, inexpensive and environmentally sound. They predict that highly
precise nanomanufacturing and the use of smaller quantities of potent
nanomaterials will break the tie between economic activity and resource
use. In short, it is argued that nanotechnology will enable ongoing
economic growth and the expansion of consumer culture at a vastly
reduced environmental cost./In this report, for the first time, Friends of
the Earth puts the ‘green’ claims of industry [Actant: human/systemic :
villain/opponent] under the microscope. Our investigation reveals that
the nanotechnology industry has over-promised and under-delivered.
Many of the claims made regarding nanotechnology’s environmental
performance, and breakthroughs touted by companies claiming to be near
market, are not matched by reality. Worse, the energy and environmental
costs of the growing nano industry are far higher than expected.” (Friends
of the Earth 2010: 5)
b) Actants, characters, actions and
interrelation
•
Where do we look at? Look at actant roles (e.g. sender, receiver, subject (hero),
object, helper, villain + actions, modalities (knowing, not knowing (knowledge); must
/not must be able/not being able (capacity), wanting/not wanting (motivation,
desire) e.g. States, features and actions of actants and participants)
•
(example 9) “Scientists [actant: active – emotional state ?] are excited by the revolutionary
nature of nanotechnology. They have discovered that materials do not retain the same
properties if you chop them into nano-sized pieces—a paradigm shift that opens up new
ways of thinking about matter. Engineers [actant: ] are equally intrigued by the possibility of
tuning properties merely by changing the size of a material. Industries see an enabling
technology that can be applied in all manufacturing sectors. Every discipline and profession
wants a piece of the action. / Nanotechnology is becoming much Nanotechnology is
becoming much more complex, no longer only using “dumb” nanoscale materials in passive
matrices but also using nanomaterials with multiple functions and multiple properties. These
materials are not amenable to simple, standard analytical methods, and substances must be
measured, or their risks cannot be controlled. Risk must not be ignored. As the excitement
about nanotechnology mounts, voices advocating forethought about environmental, health,
and safety (EHS) issues grow louder and stronger, because many people [actant : patient] feel
that these issues are not yet getting the attention they deserve. These voices belong to
diverse organizations: environmental advocacy groups, multiple government agencies,
standards organizations, scientific as well as engineering and health-related professional
societies, universities, trade associations, and industries large and small [actants:
opponents].” (Karn 2008)
c) Narrative devices
• TELLING A NARRATIVE TAKES TIME, BUT IT ALSO `NARRATES´
TIME, A SINGLE DAY MIGHT TAKE A BOOK AS YOU WILL KNOW
AND SO DO NANO REPORTS:
• Duration: space and (reading) time dedicated to
themes, topics, characters etc.
• Frequency: times events, existents, characters and
actants mentioned (repetition and narrated repetition)
• Voice: (first and third person narrators),
• Focalisation: who sees from were (perspective from
within/without, part of the story plot or, narrator takes
over single characters view (CSO, industry rep. etc.)
IV. Preliminary findings
• 1 Standing at the crossroads: The techno-optimistic Green
Nano narrative has become the dominant way of framing
Green Nanotechnologies. This optimistic plot (promises to
reconcile economic growth and enviromental protection
etc.) has become the reference story to which all other
actors involved need to refer to …
• 2 The dominant Green Nano story is, however, in search of
a CSO narrator: Refiguring the Green Nano Story (BUND,
EEB, Friends of the Earth, ETC Group)
• 3 A particular case: Policy stakeholder dialogues (e.g. the
Nano Commission): How CSOs voices got and get lost in
translation
• 4 Is there a way out? We can learn from literature again!
Let´s follow Bakhtin´s lesson and safeguard the polyphony
of voices in discourse and give readers another chance …