The elephant in the forest and the irony of the environmental debate in Quebec

TY - JOUR

T1 - The elephant in the forest and the irony of the environmental debate in Quebec

AU - Nobert, Sebastien

PY - 2008/6

Y1 - 2008/6

N2 - This paper examines how the conflict over the management of the boreal forest of Quebec has been constructed through the documentary film l'Erreur boreale. It pays particular attention to the kind of discourses and practices used by the filmmakers to present the forest as a threatened entity. The paper shows that despite raising questions over the accessibility of the forest, the film promotes dominant industrial relationships with the forest which undermine other ways of imagining the relationships between forest users and the non-humans making up the forest. The paper suggests that the debate that resulted from the film offered few novel ideas to re-imagine relationships with the forest other than through the epistemic realm of forestry science and ecology.

AB - This paper examines how the conflict over the management of the boreal forest of Quebec has been constructed through the documentary film l'Erreur boreale. It pays particular attention to the kind of discourses and practices used by the filmmakers to present the forest as a threatened entity. The paper shows that despite raising questions over the accessibility of the forest, the film promotes dominant industrial relationships with the forest which undermine other ways of imagining the relationships between forest users and the non-humans making up the forest. The paper suggests that the debate that resulted from the film offered few novel ideas to re-imagine relationships with the forest other than through the epistemic realm of forestry science and ecology.

U2 - 10.1080/14702540802425253

DO - 10.1080/14702540802425253

M3 - Article

VL - 124

SP - 204

EP - 210

JO - SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL

JF - SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL

IS - 2-3

ER -