ABSTRACT
Anthropological research can help to transform social conflict. This chapter illustrates the case by studying the environmental conflict surrounding the Site C Clean Energy Project, a hydroelectric dam project in northern Canada. Although there is an official mediation process on the construction project between the company, a favorable population, an opposition population, and the indigenous population. However, this mediation does not consider the different worldviews or even understandings of the world that underlie the different perspectives. This chapter introduces the approaches of Worldview Analysis and Worldview Translation. Anthropological research uncovers different world views and contributes to a better mutual understanding. However, this study also shows the limitations of such an approach. The presented case is dominated by significant power imbalances between the participants and thus by forms of structural and cultural violence. Even supporting anthropological research cannot balance this out. The researcher also faces enormous demands for staying all-party and not simply taking sides with the weaker party. The dominant discourse will always frame the benefits of the dam project as community and social benefits and, in contrast, treat the opponents’ objections as singular cases. This chapter reviews current seminal literature on anthropology's engagement in conflict transformation and research that aligns with the discipline's contemporary advocacy approaches.
