5.6 Conclusion Mankind has long been driven to seek power. Our obsession with the use and abuse of power over our fellow man and environment, has been ineluctably integrated into the broader framework of ‘power epistemology’, within which issues of human rights and the fate of the species on Earth are subservient to the prevailing
5.5 Empathetic Epistemology and New Directions in Environmental Education In what follows I shall now argue that the humanitarian ideals which define this theme are also marginalized by the epistemology of power and transformative subjugation. The moral tension which exists arises partly from a conflict of epistemic values which define the goals of engineering pedagogy
5.4 Transformative Subjugation and Conformity We have transformed all of physical reality into a giant testing site and then attempted to discover predictable patterns of behavior that can be exploited over and over in such a way as to advance our control over the forces of nature. The more successful we are at imperializing our
5.3 The Ideology of Power Epistemology Knowledge is never neutral, it never exists in an empiricist, objective relationship to the real. Knowledge is power, and the circulation of knowledge is part of the social distribution of power. The discursive power to construct a common sense reality that can be inserted into cultural and political life
5.2 Reconceptualizing the Foundations of Knowledge 5.2.1 What is Knowledge Leplat (1990) claimed that knowledge, in essence, is the justified skill that can be used to solve a problem. Some scholars argue that our knowledge is more a matter of being socially constructed than a fact passively waiting to be unearthed (Pressley, 2005). On this
5.1 Introduction In the previous chapters I have endeavored to provide a detailed account of the nature and magnitude of the Three Gorges Dam construction, with an aim and attempts to make explicit the severe environmental degradation and human suffering that has resulted directly or indirectly from this massive project. To date the major political
4.5 Conclusion I have argued in this chapter that the TGDP dislocation of in excess of 1.3 million people represents an egregious violation of human rights. The Three Gorges Dam is a megaproject development that reflects the power-based preoccupation with political dominance at the expense of social justice and equity. The politicians in power not
4.4 Control and Obedience ― a Chinese Power Game It has been argued that “involuntary population displacement and resettlement are widespread enough, big enough, frequent enough, complex and consequential enough to merit the full mobilization of the conceptual, analytical and operational tools available to address it” (Cernea, quoted in Kothari, 1996, p.1481). It is also
4.3 General Migration Patterns in China China has the poorest record on involuntary resettlement (Jackson & Sleigh, 2001). It is estimated that more than 20 million people displaced by development projects from 1950 to 2003, with over 10.2 million of these people being dislocated by water and dam projects alone (Jackson & Sleigh, 2001; Cernea,
4.2 The Political Sensitivity of Reservoir Displacement in China More recently, the impact of massive development-induced resettlement of those who have been dispersed across the country, thereby affecting the economy and the established harmony of stable communities has become a particular concern of the Chinese Government. Compulsory dislocation of millions of people because of development