CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland

Cultural Studies and/in the Natural Environment

Organiser: Celmara Pocock

Allen, Cliff (University of Waikato, New Zealand) TAKING THE ENVIRONMENT OUT OF THE BOTTOM LINE: THE PARADOX OF ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPARENCY IN SPECIALIZED COMPANY REPORTS IN NEW ZEALAND
One of the major environmental concerns in the 21st century is the role of corporations in environmental degradation. New social movements, such as the movement for business social responsibility and sustainability groups, demand greater transparency and a more holistic view of the operations of corporations. In response to this demand many companies have begun to provide specialized Health, Safety and Environment reports. I argue that these reports are paradoxical because the HSE information, though more comprehensive than was previously offered, is generally only distributed to those who request it. The company annual report, now limited to financial information, is distributed to all shareholders in a company thus demonstrating the priority afforded to financial information. The net effect is to reproduce prevalent anthropocentric cultural economic conceptions of the environment as a resource to be managed which is important to, but not inherently connected to, the bottom line of the company.

Pocock, Celmara (James Cook University, Australia) THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: CONTROL AND COLONISATION OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Australia's Great Barrier Reef offers visitors an opportunity to experience another world. There is no terrestrial equivalent of the distinctive colors, light, weightlessness and sounds of the underwater environment. Human experience of this world, however, is restricted by the physical limitations of the human body and time spent underwater is always finite. Through an analysis of archival images, film and documentary texts, this paper investigates how the Great Barrier Reef has been explored, captured and transformed from a treacherous and alien wonder, to a place that offers comfort and familiarity. During the last century access to the phenomena of the underwater world evolved from the voyeuristic experience of viewing corals from the surface of the sea, to one of submersion and engagement. The anthropocentric colonization of this world has occurred through mimesis, which is facilitated by nomenclature and technology that enables access to, and reproduction of, the Great Barrier Reef.

Pennanen, Kaisa and Kymäläinen, Päivi (University of Tampere, Finland) ON THE BEACH WITH POLLUTION: DECONSTRUCTED MEANINGS OF THE FINNISH LAKESHORE
The idea of Finnishness has often been connected to lakes and lakeside life. Since lakes and lakeshores have in Finland represented 'ideal places', people have acted accordingly: built summer cottages on lakeshores and strived for spending time 'on the beach'. In our paper, we will use beach as an example in discussing the signification of the environment. How cultural preconceptions are constructing our ideas of an everyday living environment and what happens when these preconceptions do not work anymore? In our discussion this is connected to an environmental problem at a lake. In our case, environmental changes have problematized the inhabitants' interpretations of the lake and the meanings which they have attached to it. How are meanings unfolded and refolded when it is impossible to explain or order the experience of the environment anymore? These questions are examined in the paper by combining them to the cultural texts of the lake.

Heikkinen, Timo (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland) FROM A PROVINCIAL TO A CITIZEN: IDENTITY-FORMATION AND PERCEPTIONS OF NATURE
According to United Nation statistics, Helsinki has the fastest population growth among large European Union cities: the Helsinki conurbation grew by 100 000 inhabitants during the 1990s. Among these migrants there are many who have roots in the countryside, they are sons and daughters of farmers. The paper explores how these people perceived the city and countryside in their childhood and youth, and how they see the city and countryside now. The paper - based largely on my own life story - shows how natural environments are used as a mirror in the process of identity-formation: the transformation from peasant to an urban dweller means that the ways of seeing the nature change also.