ABSTRACT
Having sought to clarify how and why ‘representation’ matters in our lives in the second half of Chapter 2, let me now build on the early part of that chapter. I want to say more about how epistemic communities of various kinds try to exert their representational influence on us. By ‘influence’, as readers will see, I mean a set of affects and effects that are quite profound – either in actuality or potentially. We may think we can ‘take or leave’ any given message or experience because of the freedom we enjoy in our daily lives. However, I’ll argue that references to nature and its collateral concepts are part of a wider process of shaping people’s identities, values and behaviours. This process is inescapable, albeit complex and only partially coordinated. It encompasses seemingly ‘innocent’, unremarkable or everyday situations, like a weekend camping trip in the mountains or the purchase of tinned tuna caught with ‘dolphin friendly’ nets. Whether we realise it or not, we’re routinely being invited to imbibe certain ideas, norms and practices which we then take to be our own (or not, as the case may be). This raises some key questions about epistemic communities, their representations, and the ways in which we respond to them.
