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Environmental Justice and Social Power Rhetoric in the Moral Battle over Whaling*
Author(s) -
Cantzler Julia Miller
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.2007.00201.x
Subject(s) - whaling , framing (construction) , battle , rhetoric , sociology , environmental ethics , ideology , indigenous , political science , politics , gender studies , law , history , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology , biology
This study examines the ideological battle between the Makah Indian Tribe and anti‐whaling activists over the Tribe's quest to resume its 2000‐year‐old tradition of hunting gray whales for traditional and ceremonial purposes. Through qualitative discourse analysis of 268 newspaper articles, this study analyzes the competing rhetoric surrounding the indigenous whaling issue and exposes fundamental differences in how the opposing campaigns frame their arguments. This study contributes to the literature on social movements and environmental justice in two primary ways. First, this article exposes the social power dynamics and experientially based assumptions inherent in the “framing contests” of competing social movements that comprised those from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Second, this article expands existing work in the field of environmental justice to include American Indian issues and concerns.