Abstract
Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments. At a time when environmental NGOs are turning to questions of gender-equality and ethnic diversity, we analyze their possibilities to do so. We argue that attempts at ethnic and cultural diversity in environmental organizations cannot be understood without insight into the conceptualizations of nature and the environment that underpin thinking within the organization. Serious attempts at diversity entail confronting some of the core values on nature-cultures driving the organization as well as understanding the dimensions of power such as class, gender, and race that structure its practices. We study what nature means for one such organization, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and the ways in which thinking about nature dictates organizational practice and sets the boundaries of their work with diversity in their projects on outdoor recreation. We base our analysis on official documents and interviews, analyze how “diversity” and “gender-equality” are represented in the material and reflect on the interconnections as well as the different trajectories taken by the two issues. Our study shows that the organization’s understanding of nature is a central and yet undiscussed determinant of their work with diversity that closes down as much as it opens up the space for greater inclusion of minorities. We argue that for environmental organizations wanting to diversity membership, a discussion of what nature means for people and their relationships to each other and nature is vital to any such efforts.
Highlights
Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments
We argue that attempts at ethnic and cultural diversity in environmental organizations cannot be understood without insight into the conceptualizations of nature and the environment that underpin thinking within the organization
We show that the question of diversity is not just about how environmental movements can include a diverse group of people into their organizations and how their conceptions of nature are central for them being able to do so
Summary
Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments. Western or European environmentalism has been said to be driven by the urban middle-class (Guha and Martinez-Alier, 1998) This claim has been contested in Sweden by those who bring attention to people’s relations in maintaining their environments in rural contexts (Arora-Jonsson, 2013) and especially in relation to Sami indigenous groups (Hilder, 2015). While different groups’ relations to the environment span a wide spectrum, for environmental organizations, overarching discourses on people’s relations to the environment, and especially in relation to outdoor recreation, continue to be exemplified by urban, middle-class, and white concerns Recognizing this discrepancy in a society that is increasingly multicultural, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNF in Swedish), the largest member-based environmental organization in Sweden, initiated various attempts to bring diversity both within the structure of their organization and in their work with members. Our research has important implications for thinking on environmental action and governance and for theorizing on diversity in organizations
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