Une intervention de François Gemenne dans le cadre de la 6e conférence générale de l'European Consortium for Political Research.
Résumé de la présentation [en anglais] :
La présentation de François Gemenne s'inscrit dans le cadre de la session intitulée "The Role of Popular Culture in Green Politics".
"Reports on the impacts of climate change, including those of the IPCC, usually describe small island states as ‘especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, sea-level rise, and extreme events’ (Mimura et al. 2007: 689). Over time, the threats posed by sea-level rise to the very existence of these states have been highlighted, and their inhabitants have often been described as the first potential ‘climate refugees’. Most media reports now describe small island states as ‘lost paradises’ and their citizens as ‘canaries in the coalmine’ of global warming. The paper shows how such rhetoric relies heavily on an imagery of vulnerability anchored in popular culture: from The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe to the reality TV show Survivor, inhabitants of small islands have always been portrayed as particularly vulnerable to environmental threats. Yet empirical studies show that they tend to be particularly resilient to such threat. The paper will contrast popular imagery with empirical reality, and show how discourses of vulnerability as a Western construct can be detrimental to local strategies of adaptation to climate change."
>> Le site de la conférence [en anglais]
