Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Knowledge-Discourse-Practice Nexus of Ecological Restoration: Integrating Diversities

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BCS-0802627Matthew TurnerYen-Chu WengUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison Doctoral Dissertation Research: The knowledge-discourse-practice nexus of ecological restoration: integrating diversities On both philosophical and practical grounds, ecological restoration serves as a subject for interrogating and evaluating people's ideas of nature and the expected role of humans in managing the natural world. What is particular about ecological restoration is that people's intentions are explicitly expressed through its practices. By tracing the reciprocity among knowledge, discourse, and practice, ecological restoration provides a unique opportunity to examine the connections between ideas of nature and the practices of reconstructing an aspect of nature. This research will investigate the ways in which people's positionality influence how ecological restoration is interpreted and practiced. Three types of actors are the foci of the research: ecological scientists, professional practitioners, and the general public. The research aims to investigate the interconnections between people's knowledge background, their discursive construction of nature, and their concrete practices in conducting restoration activities. With the recent trend in involving the general public in restoration projects, ecological restoration provides an opportunity to examine the various knowledge claims about ecological restoration and the power dynamics among social actors possessing different kinds of knowledge. The research will take a comparative case-study approach to study a range of restoration projects in two Midwestern cities: Madison, Wisconsin and Ann Arbor, Michigan. It will integrate results from both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, publication analyses, and questionnaire surveys. This research will also identify potential conflicts and spaces for integration among the various actor groups.In this era of rising environmental awareness, public participation has become a crucial component of natural resource management. Although through volunteer programs local people have the chance to participate in environmental management, little research has addressed the power dynamics between the experts and lay volunteers. The research aims to provide a channel for the often underrepresented general public to get involved in the dialogue processes as well as to better inform the project managers of how to integrate the diverse viewpoints into restoration projects. The overall objective of the research is to foster mutual communications between experts and lay volunteers so that they can both contribute to restoration projects and cultivate long-term reciprocal interactions. Given that ecological restoration is at the forefront of the practice of constructing nature, findings from this research can help promote reflexive actions in environmental management in general.