Diskursive Konstituierung von Kulturlandschaft am Beispiel politischer Windenergiediskurse in Deutschland

Abstract

There are numerous ways to define ‘landscape’ or ‘cultural landscape’—a fact that can be irritating. We do not propose any “new” notion of landscape. By contrast we examine how ‘landscape’ and ‘cultural landscape’ acquire meaning in political discourses. The objective is to introduce an approach to analyzing the discursive constitution of cultural landscape and methods by means of which it can be implemented. We draw on the post-structural discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and we take two empirical analyses as examples: a nation-wide survey on issues of local landscape discourses and an in-depth study on landscape concepts and argumentation schemes in political discourses about the deployment of wind energy in Germany. The landscape concepts which are reproduced in the wind energy discourses sound familiar: ‘landscape as a beautiful, valuable area’, ‘landscape as an area under human influence’ and ‘landscape as something which is perceived subjectively’. However, the hegemonic discourse in favour of wind energy constantly disrupts the conservative landscape discourse which relies on the concept of ‘landscape as a beautiful, valuable area’. Certain argumentation schemes are employed to close the discourses and to immunize them against future disruptions. Generally speaking, landscape concepts play a subordinate role in wind energy discourses. In some cases, they are articulated in an instrumental, tactical manner.

Keywords

• Landscape concept
• Argumentation scheme
• Regional planning
• Discourse analysis
• Post-structuralism