Assessing risk discourses: Nano S&T in the Global South
Minna Kanerva
#2009-063
Nano science and technology (nano S&T) has potential to change our lives
for the better, but at the same time, it causes also a significant
amount of concern in terms of related health, environmental, ethical and
societal risks. It is increasingly recognized that addressing these
concerns requires appropriate governance of nano S&T, which should
arguably involve a number of different stakeholders, including various
publics. Nano S&T is seen as having particular positive and negative
implications in the Global South, and it appears that discourses around
such issues in the South have not yet been systemically researched. This
paper will therefore investigate nano S&T discourses in South Africa,
India, Hong Kong and Kenya by analysing newspaper media in these
countries. Most nano S&T media studies done previously in the Global
North have looked at the risk-opportunity dichotomy, but here a somewhat
different approach is taken by testing concepts such as risk actions and
complexity in the context of media discourse analysis. Using both
qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper will examine which risk
actions are prominent in the newspaper stories, analyse the complexities
included in the discourse, as well as the general framing of nano S&T.
Trends over the last decade will also be investigated. Finally, the
results from the included countries will be compared with each other, as
well as with similar studies done in the North. This paper will argue,
firstly, that, although they share some features, media discourses
around nano S&T in the South and the North vary considerably. Secondly,
a more methodological argument will also be made. Looking at risk
actions and complexities included in various discourses is potentially
an interesting analytical method, which could contribute to analysing
risk discourses and to successful and inclusive risk governance in
general, also regarding other global risk issues.
Key words: nano S&T, governance, Global South, risk, ignorance
JEL codes: O30, O32, O33, O38, O53, O55, O57
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872