The Power of Narrative in Environmental Networks

For as long has humans have lived in communities, storytelling has bound people toeach other and to their environments. In recent times, scholars have noted how social networks arisearound issues of resource and ecological management. In this book, Raul Lejano, Mrill Ingram, andHelen Ingram argue that stories, or narratives, play a key role in these networks -- thatenvironmental communities "narrate themselves into existence." The authors propose thenotion of the narrative-network, and introduce innovative tools to analyze the plots, characters,and events that inform environmental action. Their analysis sheds light on how environmentalnetworks can emerge in unlikely contexts and sustain themselves against great odds.

The authors present three case studies that demonstrate the power of narrativeand narratology in the analysis of environmental networks: a conservation network in the SonoranDesert, which achieved some success despite U.S.-Mexico border issues; a narrative that bridgeddifferences between community and scientists in the Turtle Islands; and networks of researchers andfarmers who collaborated to develop and sustain alternative agriculture practice in the face ofgovernment inaction. These cases demonstrate that by paying attention to language and storytelling,we can improve our understanding of environmental behavior and even change it in positiveways.

Helen Ingram is Research Fellow at the Southwest Center, University of Arizona, and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author or editor of many books, including Reflections on Water: New Approaches to Transboundary Conflicts and Cooperation (MIT Press, 2001).