Urban Political Ecology of Worth and Value: Enacting Allotments in Media Discourse

0496175 - SOÚ 2021 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Samec, Tomáš - Gibas, Petr
Urban Political Ecology of Worth and Value: Enacting Allotments in Media Discourse.
Space and Culture. Roč. 24, č. 1 (2021), s. 170-183. ISSN 1206-3312. E-ISSN 1552-8308
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA16-06077S
Institutional support: RVO:68378025
Keywords : urban political ecology * allotments * media discourse
OECD category: Sociology
Impact factor: 0.971, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1206331218806169

In this article, we propose to expand the field of urban political ecology (UPE) by analyzing the role of discourse in the production of urban nature. We exemplify our case by analyzing media discourses and exploring discursive modes of justification and hierarchies of worth mobilized in socialist and postsocialist struggles over allotments in what is now the Czech Republic. We unravel particular discursive strategies and arguments used to depoliticize the struggle and justify the abolishment of allotments. Using the example of allotments, we argue that incorporating a rigorous analysis of discourse in the scope and practice of UPE and paying close, explicit attention to how worth and value are mobilized might help us not only to better understand the complex processes of the production of socio-natures in (neoliberal) cities but also to empower UPE scholars with tools to further the fight for more just urban environments.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0295579