Discursive entrepreneurship: ethical meaning-making as a transformative practice for sustainable futures

Riedy, C

Discursive entrepreneurship: ethical meaning-making as a transformative practice for sustainable futures

Riedy, C

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Publisher:: SPRINGER JAPAN KK
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Sustainability Science, 2021
Issue Date:: 2021-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Riedy, C https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3668-737X
dc.date.accessioned	2022-01-28T00:12:57Z
dc.date.available	2022-01-28T00:12:57Z
dc.date.issued	2021-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Sustainability Science, 2021
dc.identifier.issn	1862-4065
dc.identifier.issn	1862-4057
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/153705
dc.description.abstract	Humanity inhabits a discursive landscape that stimulates our imaginations, guides and influences our behaviour, shapes our ideas of what is possible, and governs what we perceive as normal. The collective human imagination is currently dominated by a discourse of neoliberal capitalism that contributes to global sustainability challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss by framing nature as a resource to be exploited in service of perpetual growth in economic activity. Transformation towards flourishing, sustainable futures will not be possible without the transformation of this dominant discourse. Alternative discourses exist but little is known about how to proactively and ethically pursue the transformation of dominant discourses. In response, this paper develops a conceptual framework to guide an ethical practice of meaning-making towards discursive transformation. It introduces ‘discursive entrepreneurship’, defined as the practice of creating, performing, and transforming memes, stories, narratives, and discourses to promote a desired structure of the discursive landscape. Normative strategies for discursive entrepreneurship are identified from a systematic review of recent literature on how social-ecological stories, narratives, and discourses evolve and change. The paper clarifies the often-inconsistent terminology used to define these ideational concepts, arguing for a nested relationship between discourses, narratives, stories, and memes. Further, it shows how discursive entrepreneurs can engage in iterative strategies of deconstruction, reframing, construction, performance, connection, and collaboration to increase the chances that their meanings will reach audiences, be heard by them, be retold, and perhaps contribute to the emergence of inclusive, life-affirming discourses.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	SPRINGER JAPAN KK
dc.relation.ispartof	Sustainability Science
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/s11625-021-00978-z
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.rights	The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s11625-021-00978-z
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Sciences
dc.title	Discursive entrepreneurship: ethical meaning-making as a transformative practice for sustainable futures
dc.type	Journal Article
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)/Institute For Sustainable Futures
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - ISF - Institute for Sustainable Futures
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
utslib.copyright.embargo	2023-01-31T00:00:00+1000Z
dc.date.updated	2022-01-28T00:12:56Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

Humanity inhabits a discursive landscape that stimulates our imaginations, guides and influences our behaviour, shapes our ideas of what is possible, and governs what we perceive as normal. The collective human imagination is currently dominated by a discourse of neoliberal capitalism that contributes to global sustainability challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss by framing nature as a resource to be exploited in service of perpetual growth in economic activity. Transformation towards flourishing, sustainable futures will not be possible without the transformation of this dominant discourse. Alternative discourses exist but little is known about how to proactively and ethically pursue the transformation of dominant discourses. In response, this paper develops a conceptual framework to guide an ethical practice of meaning-making towards discursive transformation. It introduces ‘discursive entrepreneurship’, defined as the practice of creating, performing, and transforming memes, stories, narratives, and discourses to promote a desired structure of the discursive landscape. Normative strategies for discursive entrepreneurship are identified from a systematic review of recent literature on how social-ecological stories, narratives, and discourses evolve and change. The paper clarifies the often-inconsistent terminology used to define these ideational concepts, arguing for a nested relationship between discourses, narratives, stories, and memes. Further, it shows how discursive entrepreneurs can engage in iterative strategies of deconstruction, reframing, construction, performance, connection, and collaboration to increase the chances that their meanings will reach audiences, be heard by them, be retold, and perhaps contribute to the emergence of inclusive, life-affirming discourses.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/153705