“For as long has humans have lived in communities, storytelling has bound people to each other and to their
environments. In recent times, scholars have noted how social networks arise around issues of resource and
ecological management. In this book, Raul Lejano, Mrill Ingram, and Helen Ingram argue that stories, or
narratives, play a key role; that these emergent networks essentially “narrate themselves into existence”.

The authors propose the notion 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 environmental networks can emerge in unlikely contexts and sustain themselves against great odds.

The authors present three case studies that demonstrate the power of narrative and narratology in the analysis of environmental networks: a conservation network in the Sonoran Desert, which achieved some success despite US-Mexico border issues; a narrative that bridged differences between community and scientists in the Turtle Islands; and networks of researchers and farmers who collaborated to develop and sustain alternative agriculture practice in the face of government 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 positive ways.

22 paper | £15.95 | 978-0-262-51957-1 | 240 pp.,

Raul Lejano is Associate Professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, & Human Development at New York University and the author of Frameworks for Policy Analysis: Merging Text and Context.

Mrill Ingram, a PhD in Geography, is an independent scholar in Madison, Wisconsin.

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/editor of numerous books, including Reflections on Water: New Approaches to Transboundary Conflicts and Cooperation (MIT Press, 2001).”
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/power-narrative-environmental-networks
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