A Review on Directions for Discussing Forest Governance and Discourses from a Linguistic Perspective

Abstract

Studies investigating forest discourses both from within and outside the forest discourse community have seen a growing interest in how forest policies and their governance affect forest communities, the people, and the countries. There has been a debate on whether these studies, which claimed to be studied following Foucault’s concepts of discourse, power, knowledge and governmentality have contributed to deriving empirical findings on how forest discourses have impacted and affected those involved in the implementation of the discourses. Additionally, it was found that forest communities pointed out the need for studies to be conducted to probe into how forest information is used, by whom and for what purpose. To date, little is known about those involved in forest discourses, what functions the discourses serve to those involved, and their impact on the forest community in general. Thus, this paper reviews the discussions on forest discourses that lack insights into those involved in forest discourses. This paper proceeds by providing relevant details on the concepts of discourse and genre from a linguistic perspective. Additionally, some possible ways to understand forest discourses and policy governance, particularly drawing from the linguistic perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The paper concludes with the possible inclusion of another possible direction for further studies in forest discourses, particularly from a linguistic perspective on forest discourses concerning forest policies and governance.