Shared narratives are an integral part of human society and can play an important role in creating cohesion and belonging, but it is not these narratives that typically drive international action. It is rather global metanarratives that, building on a long legacy of geopolitical storytelling, speak to and are propelled across the world by elites such as colonial and post-colonial officers, missionaries, celebrities, practitioners, businesspeople and administrators.

Taking point of departure in the new book A Bit too Simple: Narratives of Development, Sustainability and Climate Change (Cambridge University Press) this roundtable will discuss the role of local stories and narratives vs. geopolitical metanarratives in shaping development, sustainability and climate action. The book demonstrates how metanarratives like those portraying development workers as heroes and local populations as victims needing to be saved from their own unsustainable practices have led to problematic policies and interventions. Speakers will discuss metanarratives in their own research pertaining to topics ranging from tree planting initiatives in high schools in Tanzania to celebrity humanitarianism in Congo, the wind energy frontier in India and “sustainability superheroes” in Denmark. 

The session aims to both critically discuss the different ways in which various actors are affected by, respond to, challenge, but also perpetuate, the same circulating hegemonizing metanarratives on sustainability, development and climate change, and to counter these metanarratives with locally grounded stories, narratives and experiences. 

Speakers:

• Mette Fog Olwig, Roskilde University, Denmark
• David Andre Karnail Singh, The Centre de Sciences Humaines, India
• Lisa Ann Richey, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
• Conrad John Masabo, Roskilde University, Denmark, and University of Dodoma, Tanzania 

Register Here