Contemporary Sustainability Discourse Essay
“The Myth of the Happy Yeoman lives on in Contemporary Sustainability Discourse”
Discourses, using spoken or written language in a social context, are more than narratives of human existence. A contemporary feminist author and professor, Chris Weedon, paraphrases French philosopher, Michel Foucault in the following passage: (discourses are) “ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them. Discourses are more than ways of thinking and producing meaning. They constitute the 'nature ' of the body, unconscious and conscious mind and emotional life of the subjects they seek to govern” (Weedon, 1987, p. 108). This definition …show more content…
These historical discourses must be considered for their role in the development of current environmental discourses, in particular, the sustainable development discourse which is a sub category of the sustainability discourse. The relationship between the agrarian myth and the sustainability discourse has been circuitous and the connection has waxed and waned through various generations. At its core, the sustainability discourse, like all current environmental discourses is inextricably tied to industrialization. If the industrial revolution hadn’t allowed for humans to begin production of food, clothing, and other goods on a mass scale, there would never have been a need for consideration of the environment which incurs the brunt of the impacts of industrialized production. When settlers began colonizing North America, they came from an industrialized Great Britain, and began working to replicate that lifestyle in many ways. The early American discourses on Wilderness, “The Myth of the Happy Yeoman”, John Locke’s “Of Property” and Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on Virginia”, provide insight into the perspective of white settlers, of British and European descent, but they were also effective in shaping the
Discourses, using spoken or written language in a social context, are more than narratives of human existence. A contemporary feminist author and professor, Chris Weedon, paraphrases French philosopher, Michel Foucault in the following passage: (discourses are) “ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them. Discourses are more than ways of thinking and producing meaning. They constitute the 'nature ' of the body, unconscious and conscious mind and emotional life of the subjects they seek to govern” (Weedon, 1987, p. 108). This definition …show more content…
These historical discourses must be considered for their role in the development of current environmental discourses, in particular, the sustainable development discourse which is a sub category of the sustainability discourse. The relationship between the agrarian myth and the sustainability discourse has been circuitous and the connection has waxed and waned through various generations. At its core, the sustainability discourse, like all current environmental discourses is inextricably tied to industrialization. If the industrial revolution hadn’t allowed for humans to begin production of food, clothing, and other goods on a mass scale, there would never have been a need for consideration of the environment which incurs the brunt of the impacts of industrialized production. When settlers began colonizing North America, they came from an industrialized Great Britain, and began working to replicate that lifestyle in many ways. The early American discourses on Wilderness, “The Myth of the Happy Yeoman”, John Locke’s “Of Property” and Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on Virginia”, provide insight into the perspective of white settlers, of British and European descent, but they were also effective in shaping the