Preferred presentation format: Refereed Paper

Affiliation(s): Charles Sturt University, Bathurst

Presenter(s) Details: Title: Dr Len Palmer

Position: Lecturer in Sociology

Organisation: Social Science and Liberal Studies

CSU, Bathurst NSW

Contact email: lpalmer@csu.edu.au

Contact phone: 02 63384532

Keywords: Discourse analysis, sustainability, poststructuralism, sustainable grazing systems, discourses, cultural sociology.

This paper reports on research undertaken at the Australian National Field Days near Orange NSW. The research sought to see how discourses about sustainability were understood by visitors to the field days. Two mechanisms were employed. The first invited visitors to define sustainability in their own terms. The second offered a range of different definitions of sustainability to see if the respondents recognised them as relevant ways of talking about sustainability. Some demographic materials were also collected. Results are interpreted in relation to the discursive responses made by respondents. The research is part of wider attempt to understand how foucauldian theory of subjectivity may relate to sustainable grazing adoption and its relevance for extension research.

Key learning points:

• Discourses are key cultural elements for rural social research.
• Discourses of sustainability are significant research factors in extension/adoption research.
• Farmers significantly occupied in grazing may be likely to employ a productionist discourse of sustainability.