The Sustainability of Palm Oil - Defining and Solving the Problem in Civil Society Networks

This thesis studies the construction of meaning in a transnational civil society network (TCSN) campaigning over oil palm cultivation in Indonesia. The focus of the study is on the ways in which TCSNs interpret taken-for-granted, but socially and environmentally destructive, practices in novel ways in order to alter the manner in which people understand and act upon these practices. The construction of meaning is understood to take the form of narratives as narrating is a way to add plot and coherence to our experiences, bringing them together as a meaningful whole. The research is based on literature and interviews. The literature includes books, briefs and pamphlets written by NGOs. The research material also includes interviews with Indonesian environmental and social NGOs, indigenous peoples’ advocacy groups, and members of a grassroots’ association called the Oil Palm Farmers Union. In addition, individual smallholders and oil palm plantation workers were interviewed for the research. Due to the focus on the construction of meaning, the thesis is based on a social constructivist approach. According to social constructivism, behaviour is only meaningful within an intersubjective social context as only people who share a communication environment can construct reality together in meaningful ways. Respectively, intersubjective knowledge constructs social reality for the people in this environment and, by doing so, limits and empowers actions within this environment. Thus, narratives are understood to have normative power as they (re)define understandings of, and behaviour towards an issue. Primarily, TCSN offer alternative ways to understand (sustainable) development through redefinitions of “proper” natural resource use and “true” ownership of these resources. In order to research the construction of meaning the analysis of the research material is done by means of narrative and frame analysis. Both of these methods can be used for interpreting the ways in which people organise their experiences into meaningful wholes. This is done by paying attention to the ways in which activists interpret oil palm plantation development problematic, assign causes and consequences to the problem, name victims and perpetrators of plantation development, and define possible ways to solve the situation. The analysis revealed that oil palm cultivation is framed in multiple ways. First, Plantation development is portrayed as an inseparable part of deforestation and linked to global problems, such as climate change. The oil palm plantation system is also perceived to be a major threat to indigenous peoples’ rights to land and self-determination. Furthermore, activists on the grassroots’ level mainly deal with oil palm as a question of livelihood. These multiple framings reveal a division between two forms of environmentalism in the narratives. First, one of the narratives mainly represents concerns to protect forests and wildlife without broader aims of social transformation – i.e. it represents post-material forms of environmentalism that strive for environmental governance. Yet, primarily the network represents more social forms of environmentalism. These sorts of narratives represent efforts to open up more political space for civil society and indigenous people in order to alter the ideational context in which oil palm plantation development “as usual” is acceptable. Through this, they also strive to alter the prevailing social order. Asiasanat: transnational relations, civil society, norms, sustainability, narratives, frames