Speaking for the trees: a study of the relationship between discourse, power and organisational culture in competing constructions of nature

Abstract

ABSTRACT In order to demonstrate the effects of competing constructions of nature by different interest groups, this article describes a dispute in Cape Town, South Africa, through the lens of cultural theory and Foucault’s notion of discourse linked to power. Controversy arose over the felling of a small plantation of non-indigenous pine trees, situated amidst indigenous “fynbos” vegetation in a suburban park. The matter was adjudicated in the Western Cape Division of the South African High Court, and subsequently in the Supreme Court of Appeal. The case turned on the meaning of public power and the affected community’s right to be heard. During argumentation the scientifically framed and institutionally supported discourse of the conservation entity was pitched against the symbolically oriented discourse of a community action group representing ramblers, joggers, horse riders, and dog walkers. The analysis focuses on how opposing arguments were shaped by perspectives of what nature, in the context of a suburban park, should look like and the purpose it should serve. The study shows how the dominant discourse of nature, rooted in the assumed supremacy of science and expert knowledge, was challenged by a multivalent and contextually moulded discourse of nature as amenity.