Ontologies of Environmental Governance: A Conceptual Overview

• In Event: Ontologies of Environmental Governance - I

Abstract

The current era is characterized by large-scale, seemingly intractable environmental challenges, from widespread coral bleaching and toxic contaminants to biodiversity loss and global climate change. Attempts to mitigate such issues involve a suite of interventions commonly captured under the rubric of “environmental governance.” Environmental governance has been defined as “the set of regulatory processes, mechanisms, and organizations through which political actors influence environmental actions and outcomes” (Lemos and Agrawal 2006: 298). Drawing on recent theoretical and methodological developments in anthropology and STS, this panel examines environmental governance from an ontological perspective, to interrogate what dominant approaches render visible, and in what ways they hinder our ability to envision worlds “otherwise.” This introductory paper presents an overview of the terms and conceptual approaches that situate the rest of the papers on this panel. First, we describe the so-called “ontological turn” as it has arisen in anthropology and allied disciplines in direct conversation with STS, and address some of the important critiques and concerns that have been leveled against it. Next, we discuss the historical emergence of environmental governance as it exists today, reviewing its varied representations in scholarly and professional literatures, and identifying some of the key ontological assumptions therein. Finally, we introduce the remaining papers on the panel, laying the groundwork for discussion at the end.

Authors

• Jacob Weger, University of Georgia

• Walker DePuy, University of Georgia

• Suneel Kumar, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia