Using ethnographic methods and document analysis, this project will analyze how cultural differences affect the construction of environmentalism and how these differences affect collaboration between transnational and in-country non-governmental environmental organizations. The movements and organizations comprising environmentalism are exceptionally diverse and dynamic. They describe environmentalism in different ways and attach different meanings to the term. There is little research on the ways in which this conceptual diversity facilitates or constrains environmental advocacy. Specifically, this project will compare five Indian and two transnational environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which are located in the North. It will focus on the differential use of scientific and social justice concepts to frame environmental action and examine how conceptual and organizational diversity affects the global environmental movement. The social movements and science studies literatures frame the research questions, and methods from interpretive communication studies will be used to gather and analyze data. Publications, mission statements, project and annual reports, organizational charts will be collected when available from all organizations. The two transnational NGOs have published numerous reports, books, and treatises with their views on the nature of environmentalism. Textual analyses will be done on these materials, and the analyses will be used as a `yardstick` by which to gauge differences between national and transnational environmentalism. Field visits and long interviews will be conducted and tape recorded with staff of Indian NGOs. A network chart will be made for all organizations, chronicling their collaborations with government and private organizations and donors. In conjunction with information on collaborations, funding sources, and organizational history and structure, field notes, project visits, and informal interaction with staff will provide background information for thematic analyses and analyses of metaphor clusters, that can then be compared to the chart of collaborations. Results will be prepared for journal publication and presentations at professional meetings. They will be useful to local and transnational environmental organizations and to policy makers seeking to understand their priorities and concerns.
