Politics of Knowledge

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to address the second question of this research and to enable an exploration of the tensions that exist at the nexus between environmental governance and environmental management. This chapter (and the next) considers the role of community stakeholder groups and their knowledge in the networks surrounding environmental management and community development. The findings of Chap. 7 demonstrate that project success is synonymous with community involvement. This analysis uses the conceptual framework for cultural hybridity to illuminate that project success of the environmental management and community development projects is dependent upon local community knowledge. This is because local community knowledge is powerful. As demonstrated in this chapter, it is powerful for three main reasons. It is powerful because it is tied to place, it is not just about place but can and does encompass the diverse knowledge cultures identified as necessary for western decision-making systems (identified by Brown, Environ Health 1:20–31, 2001), and it informs perceptions of other knowledge cultures. Therefore, local community knowledge determines whether or not individuals from the local community arena will engage in project work with individuals from other interest groups.