Dialectic narratives, hostile actors, and Earth's resources in Saskatchewan, Canada

This paper uses networks of action situations (NAS) together with actor network theory (ANT) to identify the decisions that were made in Saskatchewan regarding power production and explore what future choices are available in the context of climate change. A theoretical and methodological contribution to NAS literature is made with focus on interconnected human and non-human objects (carbon, hydro, and uranium) or 'actants' and the development of discourses supporting or opposing their development. Actants provide the nodes of focus, while discourses explain the development of actants and their links. Identification and explanation of the emergence and recession of actants on the Saskatchewan landscape are analyzed with diagnostics of telecoupled systems, polycentric governance, and flows of faction situations. Focus group and survey data are used to identify future pathways and imaginaries of power production and the actants of carbon, hydro and uranium. Actants of carbon (coal) and hydro are possibly kept alive with carbon capture and storage and import of hydro-electricity from the distant action situation in a neighboring province (if the necessary infrastructure is built). While actants of renewables are strongly emerging, uranium currently mined on the Saskatchewan landscape is receiving strong support by government due to the possibility of small modular reactors (SMRs). This expanded theoretical conception of NAS illustrates distant action situations impact on local narratives and decision-making and dynamics of polycentric governance that are neither top down nor collaborative.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01214-y.

Introducing a flat ontology into landscape research: a case study of water governance experiments in South Africa

CONTEXT

Contemporary resource management paradigms within the developed world build on an understanding of human agency as ontologically distinct from the mode of existence of plants and animals. Because of this perspective, which gives priority to human agency, policies typically take their point of departure with human societies and associated ecosystems deemed of particular value.

OBJECTIVES

As an alternative to this worldview, social theorists have introduced what is known as "flat ontology", where all beings are bestowed equal rights to negotiate their existence. To explore the implications of introducing such an understanding into landscape management, a participatory planning process for water allocation was developed and tested in a case study in the Eerste River Catchment in South Africa.

METHODS

The planning process was mediated using the approach "politics of nature" (PoN), which aims to operationalize flat ontology to renegotiate water allocation based on the needs of all beings instead of the desire of a subset of humans. PoN allowed participants to playfully co-develop a common ontology and value-set. Data documenting these processes were collected digitally and analysed.

RESULTS

Results indicate that the approach engendered a rethinking of key relationships between human agency and ecosystem functionality, illustrating a potential for PoN-approaches to be deployed for governance of complex landscapes.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of experiments using PoN-methodology in the context of watershed management, it is discussed how the introduction of a flat ontology in landscape research, could inspire new ways of designing and intervening with collaborative resource management processes.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-021-01374-9.

The influence of the built environment in enacting a household model of residential aged care for people living with a mental health condition: A qualitative post-occupancy evaluation

This study undertakes a spatial analysis of an Australian aged care setting where residents receive person-centred support in a specially-designed home-like environment. Focus groups were conducted with staff to explore the impact of the built environment in a new residential aged care setting that has implemented a Household Model of care for people living with mental health conditions. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory and proxemics, we mapped how the built environment supports improved behaviours and care practices in four areas: food preparation and dining, sleep and self-care, site layout, and relationships.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment management in the educational institutions and governmental sector offices of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

E-waste management is a challenging task not only due to its rapidly growing volume but more staggeringly because of its hazardous nature. This study examined the waste electrical and electronic equipment management in the educational institutions and governmental sector offices of Addis Ababa. Through purposive sampling method, the study involves 72 sample respondents from General Service Department office and 6 higher governmental officials. The study realized the purchase of both used and working electronic equipment. The major causes of e-waste generation are rapid obsolescence rate and breakage of electronic equipment. The X² test result (13.066, p = .042) was statistically significant in terms of the causes of electronic waste among the selected offices. The rapid technological advancements, reduce in the performances of electronic equipment, poor utilizations and handlings brought the generation of obsolete and broken e-waste. The most common e-waste disposal method was storing. Hence, 81.7% of e-waste are simply stored. Other e-waste disposal methods such as reusing, refurbishing and recycling activities were flimsy. The absence of recycling possibilities and lack of awareness about the possibilities and values of recycling e-waste were some of the hindering factors. The administrative, economic and socio-cultural related factors challenging e-waste management. What is more, there were absence of e-waste legislation, shortages of storage facilities, absence of recycling and refurbishing centres. Therefore, the study proposes a workable e-waste management model and theory. Hence, Extended Producer Responsibility Model and Actor Network theory might be adopted and practiced within the realities of today's Addis Ababa.

Linking process and effects of intersectoral action on local neighbourhoods: systemic modelling based on Actor-Network Theory

After 25 years of intersectoral practice to increase health promotion resources, there is little scientific literature linking analysis of processes to observation of effects. Applying Actor-Network Theory, this article examines how the effects of intersectoral action are produced and can be attributed to its processes. A prospective multiple case study (2013-2016) was conducted on Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) in Montreal (Canada). Three NCs were studied using four kinds of data: direct observation notes of meetings and events, documents, logbooks and interviews. Systemic modelling of local intersectoral action was used for data collection and analysis. The results show that the transformations in living environments were produced by sequences of a limited number of 'transitory outcomes' that mark the progression of intersectoral action up to its effects. The list of transitory outcomes identified make up three functions in the production of change: (i) network setup and governance; (ii) self-representing and influencing others; (iii) aligning necessary actors and resources. The production of effects follows a systemic model wherein unique configurations of transitory outcomes, adapted to the different contexts where interactions are occurring, represent the change processes that lead to the effects.

Discovering the knowledge creation process of an expert group in women-friendly policy: The policy case of Seoul City

This research explores how expert knowledge is created in the process of women-friendly policy making, based on actor network theory (ANT). To address this purpose, this study uses the "Women's Happiness in the City of Seoul" policy initiated by the local government of Seoul as one example of policy development. Research findings demonstrate that knowledge creation in expert groups followed the four stages suggested by ANT. In addition, this study found that various types of knowledge emerged from individual experts. This research elucidates the process of knowledge creation and its meanings for women-friendly policy.

Citing conduct, individualizing symptoms: Accomplishing autism diagnosis in clinical case conferences

In this paper, I examine how clinicians at a clinic for developmental disabilities in the United States determine whether children being evaluated for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) showed symptoms of that condition. Drawing on a convenience sample of 61 audio and video recorded case conferences from two time periods (1985 and 2011-15), and combining Conversation Analysis with insights from Actor Network Theory, I find that clinicians describe (via a representational practice called "citation") children's conduct in ways that advance diagnostic claims. More specifically, they portray key actants in the assessment process in patterned ways: the test instrument is represented as a neutral tool of measurement, the clinician as administrator and instructor; and the child as the focal figure whose conduct is made to appear independent of the other participants and suggestive of diagnostic symptoms. These tacit representational conventions conform to and reproduce the assumptions of standardized testing, according to which clinicians and tests are to be neutral arbiters of the child's abilities, and thereby provide for objective, warrantable findings. At the same time, however, by designing representations around the child's symptomatic conduct in this way, clinicians may minimize or elide their own contributions, and those of the test instrument, to the child's performance, and thereby make the child alone appear responsible for what are, in fact, interactionally-occasioned behaviors.

Re-conceptualising holism in the contemporary nursing mandate: from individual to organisational relationships

Over the last forty years, nursing's claim to professional expertise has been expressed in terms of its care-giving function. Informed by a distinctive 'holistic' approach, models of nursing identify therapeutic relationships as the cornerstone of practice. While 'knowing the patient' has been central to clinicians' occupational identity, research reveals that nurses not only experience significant material constraints in realising these ideals, their contribution to healthcare extends far beyond direct work with patients. Amidst growing concern about healthcare quality, a body of critical commentary has emerged proposing that the contemporary nursing mandate, with its exclusive focus on care-giving, is no longer serving the interests of the profession or the public. Drawing on an ethnographic study of UK hospital nurses' 'organising work' and insights from practice-based approaches and actor network theory, this paper lays the foundations for a re-conceptualisation of holism within the nursing mandate centred on organisational rather than therapeutic relationships. Nurses can be understood as obligatory passage points in health systems and through myriad processes of 'translational mobilisation' sustain the networks through which care is organised.