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.
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