Noelle Aarts
Biographic Data
| ID | 105804 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Noelle Aarts |
| GIVEN NAMES | Noelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Aarts |
| SIGNATURE | AARTS N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Wageningen University & Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5134-4004 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 288 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Where does affect go? Exploring the (online) sharing of affective nature experiences by ecological citizen scientists
Online citizen science platforms for nature observations provide valuable data for nature enthusiasts and scientists, but typically emotions and feelings experienced in nature are not shared there. Through focus groups with users of the Dutch citizen science platform Waarneming.nl, we explored how affective nature experiences are shared. We found that citizen scientists exchange affective experiences through face-to-face conversations or social m…
Opening up the conversation
Purpose This paper explores Role-Play as an experiential learning method to understand, discuss, and improve communicative dynamics in multi-actor negotiations for sustainable rural development in the Netherlands. It addresses the need for innovative methods that prepare students and professionals to manage conflicts and foster collaboration across differences.Design/Methodology/Approach We developed an interactive Role-Playing Game (RPG), ground…
Heroes for nature
In the current biodiversity crisis, young people committed to act for nature need to be treasured. We did retrospective interviews with young adults who are dedicated to acting for nature in order to find patterns in their life experiences that contribute to their relationship with nature and drive their action for nature. We found that autonomous early childhood nature experiences build a foundation for young adults’ connection with nature. In e…
Purposes and tensions in organising knowledge
Student evaluations of courses and teaching (SETs) are used for various purposes, are omnipresent in academic teaching, and cause tensions within universities.Their analytical power is contested, and specific uses are problematised for negative effects on lecturers and academic relationships.This interpretive interview study addresses how academic actors navigate tensions and purposes, and how they use, shape and deliberate on student evaluations…
Affective Encounters with More-than-humans
Over the past twenty years, participatory digital platforms have emerged where observations of more-than-humans are shared. Such citizen science initiatives are considered important for science and policy. This research article draws on affect theory to bring to the fore the affective side of encounters between humans and more-than-humans that comes with this practice. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with Dutch observers, we analyse how observers…
Finding their way to act for nature through out-of-the-classroom learning – the case of the Green Traineeship
Contains fulltext : 317980.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)
The making of a national icon
Batik is closely associated with Indonesia, and it has gradually become both an icon of Indonesia and an expression of Indonesian identity. How this came about is investigated in this article by adopting a descriptive approach and involving the idea of a tipping point, which refers to a crucial juncture at which a small change can lead to a significant and irreversible effect. This study focused on specific narratives about batik and Indonesia, f…
Dogs in Dutch Media
Dogs are considered humans’ best friend, but this relationship is not all puppies and sunshine. Zoonoses, biting incidents, hereditary problems, and other welfare issues can threaten the relationship, especially when humans are not aware of them. Public opinion on dogs in the densely populated Netherlands was therefore examined. Dutch newspapers and Facebook were analyzed with frame analysis. A positive view of dogs seems predominant, followed by…
Everyday childhood nature experiences in an era of urbanisation
Direct childhood nature experiences have decreased rapidly over the last generations. Similar to the shifting baseline syndrome where new generations accept impoverished biodiversity as a new point of reference, we are at risk not only of having fewer childhood nature experiences, but also of accepting these diminished opportunities to connect with nature as the norm. This paper examines children’s experiences in, and perception of, nature in the…
Meaning-making on the ground
Purpose The study aims to explain the communicative basis of conflicts in which actors stand in opposition in defining a negotiated situation and to deepen knowledge of environmental conflict development, in particular on how frames are (re)shaped through discursive choices in interaction. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts an interactional approach to framing and 1) identifies the frames shaped and reshaped in four environmental debat…
The compatibility of reductionistic and complexity approaches in a sociomedical innovation perspective
Medical technologies, e-health and personalised medicine are rapidly changing the healthcare landscape. Successful implementation depends on interactions between the technology, the actors and the context. More traditional reductionistic approaches aim to understand isolated factors and linear cause–effect relations and have difficulties in addressing inter-relatedness and interaction. Complexity theory offers a myriad of approaches that focus sp…
Arguing Along Fault-lines
The success of forest governance reforms aimed at decentralisation, local participation, and sustainable resource use depends on the bureaucracy implementing such reforms. One such case of decentralised forest governance is the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in India, which recognises the rights of traditional forest dwellers to forest resources that they historically used. Most studies on FRA implementation have only highlighted the obstructionist role…
The emergence and evolution of master terms in the public debate about livestock farming
Self-organization for everyday peacebuilding
The Nasa indigenous group’s Guardia Indígena, whose primary goal is to protect indigenous people and their territories from all types of armed groups, is a nonviolent self-protection organization in Northern Cauca, Colombia. On 5 November 2014, while peace talks were ongoing between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government, two Guardia Indígena members were shot dead by FARC guerrillas. Without guns or physic…
Social media hypes about agro-food issues
Food stories
Reconstructing Collective Identity for Peacebuilding
Contains fulltext : 204677.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access
Playing language games
Higher education quality is a vague, ambiguous, multiple, and essentially contested concept. Quality’s contested character involves endless disputes about its proper use which makes it problematic to handle in governmental policies. Wittgenstein’s notion of language games is used to understand how, through time, higher education quality is enacted in Dutch governmental policy texts, and how its uses are related to each other. The analysis depicts…
Social media as a new playing field for the governance of agro-food sustainability
Silence in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration
Solving publicly important issues asks for the development of socio-technical approaches, which demands collaboration between researchers with different perspectives, values, and interests. In these complex interdisciplinary collaborations, the course of communication is of utmost importance, including the moments when people, consciously or not, keep silent. In 2012, an interdisciplinary group of water management engineers and scientists collabo…
Profiling healthy eaters. Determining factors that predict healthy eating practices among Dutch adults
Finding common ground in implementation
This article reports on an empirical study that aimed to design a practice-based theory about collaboration on the local implementation of a nationally developed health-promoting intervention. The study's objective is to better understand the dynamic process of complex collaboration. The research is based on a Delphi study among some 100 individuals in local and regional networks, in which various professionals work together to implement the Bewe…
Trust related dynamics in contested land use
Faking and forcing trust
The pivot points in planning
To organize new governance arrangements and to restore trust in spatial planning, contracts are often seen as vital policy instruments. The relations between contracts and trust are regularly studied from various perspectives. In this article, we add to the existing knowledge by exploring a dynamic perspective on the use of contracts over time and the influence thereof on trust dynamics. We conclude that, longitudinally, the use of contracts can …
Disentangling approaches to framing in conflict and negotiation research
Divergent theoretical approaches to the construct of framing have resulted in conceptual confusion in conflict research. We disentangle these approaches by analyzing their assumptions about 1) the nature of frames — that is, cognitive representations or interactional co-constructions, and 2) what is getting framed — that is, issues, identities and relationships, or interaction process. Using a meta-paradigmatic perspective, we delineate the ontol…
Dealing with Ambivalence
How Participation Creates Citizens
Turnhout, E., S. Van Bommel, and N. Aarts. 2010. How participation creates citizens: participatory governance as performative practice. Ecology and Society 15(4): 26. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03701-150426
Youth and Immigrants' Perspectives on Public Spaces
This article reports on perceptions and practices of youth and immigrants concerning public spaces in the Netherlands. Policy formation does not necessarily incorporate their interests, even though they form large and growing demographic groups in Dutch society. Data were collected in semi-structured conversations and group discussions and were analyzed using a set of concepts involving frames and framing. It is concluded that, despite the curren…
Trust and hidden conflict in participatory natural resources management
Self-organization for everyday peacebuilding
The Nasa indigenous group’s Guardia Indígena, whose primary goal is to protect indigenous people and their territories from all types of armed groups, is a nonviolent self-protection organization in Northern Cauca, Colombia. On 5 November 2014, while peace talks were ongoing between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government, two Guardia Indígena members were shot dead by FARC guerrillas. Without guns or physic…
Doing scalar politics
Complex policy issues increasingly play out in multilevel and multi-scale contexts. This allows for scale framing: framing an issue at a particular scale and level. In this article, we study scale framing as an interactional phenomenon in various policy settings, with a focus on its role in managing accountability. Using an interpretive approach, based on discourse and conversation analysis, we analyze three different policy interactions. We show…
Social media hypes about agro-food issues
My forest, my kingdom”—Self-referentiality as a strategy in the case of small forest owners coping with government regulations
Reconstructing Collective Identity for Peacebuilding
Contains fulltext : 204677.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access
Profiling healthy eaters. Determining factors that predict healthy eating practices among Dutch adults
Trust related dynamics in contested land use
The discursive construction of conflict in participatory forest management
The Agoua Forest in Benin was declared a protected area in 1953 and subsequently managed by means of a coercion system, which, however, did not prevent its deforestation. In 2002, a participatory management process was designed to restore this forest. Although the project managers and local communities agreed to a plan at the beginning of the process, the plan was not implemented because conflict arose in the course of the process. In this paper,…
Do Scale Frames Matter? Scale Frame Mismatches in the Decision Making Process of a "Mega Farm" in a Small Dutch Village
Scale issues are an increasingly important feature of complex sustainability issues, but they are mostly taken for granted in policy processes. However, the scale at which a problem is defined as well as the scale at which it should be solved are potentially contentious issues. The framing of a problem as a local, regional, or global problem is not without consequences and influences processes of inclusion and exclusion. Little is known about the…
Everyday childhood nature experiences in an era of urbanisation
Direct childhood nature experiences have decreased rapidly over the last generations. Similar to the shifting baseline syndrome where new generations accept impoverished biodiversity as a new point of reference, we are at risk not only of having fewer childhood nature experiences, but also of accepting these diminished opportunities to connect with nature as the norm. This paper examines children’s experiences in, and perception of, nature in the…
Faking and forcing trust
Changed planning for planned and unplanned change
Change, planned and unplanned, can be the product of events (change by chance), new language (change from societal interaction), and practices (track-bound change), and can involve many different societal actors. To position planning as an activity within this broader context, we present a model that captures the interplay between these three sources of change, leading to a typology of change-inducing phenomena. Change, consequently, can be manag…
Social media as a new playing field for the governance of agro-food sustainability
From cohesion to conflict in participatory forest management
The emergence and evolution of master terms in the public debate about livestock farming
Food stories
Silence in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration
Solving publicly important issues asks for the development of socio-technical approaches, which demands collaboration between researchers with different perspectives, values, and interests. In these complex interdisciplinary collaborations, the course of communication is of utmost importance, including the moments when people, consciously or not, keep silent. In 2012, an interdisciplinary group of water management engineers and scientists collabo…
Frames and Ambivalence in Context
The results of an empirical study into the perceptions of “hands-on” experts concerning the welfare of (non-human) animals in traveling circuses in the Netherlands are presented. A qualitative approach, based on in-depth conversations with trainers/performers, former trainers/performers, veterinarians, and an owner of an animal shelter, conveyed several patterns in the contextual construction of perceptions and the use of dissonance reduction str…
Frames to the Planning Game
Governments serve the public interest by regulating land use in favour of democratically determined objectives. While people can become involved in allocation processes through pre-structured participation, uninvited entry into planning processes may occur too. This article studies the latter, seeking to highlight the mechanisms of interaction between local governments and local opposition groups (LOGs) when conflict occurs about housing projects…
Dealing with Ambivalence
Youth and Immigrants' Perspectives on Public Spaces
This article reports on perceptions and practices of youth and immigrants concerning public spaces in the Netherlands. Policy formation does not necessarily incorporate their interests, even though they form large and growing demographic groups in Dutch society. Data were collected in semi-structured conversations and group discussions and were analyzed using a set of concepts involving frames and framing. It is concluded that, despite the curren…
Disentangling approaches to framing in conflict and negotiation research
Divergent theoretical approaches to the construct of framing have resulted in conceptual confusion in conflict research. We disentangle these approaches by analyzing their assumptions about 1) the nature of frames — that is, cognitive representations or interactional co-constructions, and 2) what is getting framed — that is, issues, identities and relationships, or interaction process. Using a meta-paradigmatic perspective, we delineate the ontol…
Adaptive management in agricultural innovation systems
Frames and Ambivalence in Context
The results of an empirical study into the perceptions of “hands-on” experts concerning the welfare of (non-human) animals in traveling circuses in the Netherlands are presented. A qualitative approach, based on in-depth conversations with trainers/performers, former trainers/performers, veterinarians, and an owner of an animal shelter, conveyed several patterns in the contextual construction of perceptions and the use of dissonance reduction str…
How Participation Creates Citizens
Turnhout, E., S. Van Bommel, and N. Aarts. 2010. How participation creates citizens: participatory governance as performative practice. Ecology and Society 15(4): 26. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03701-150426
Frames to the Planning Game
Governments serve the public interest by regulating land use in favour of democratically determined objectives. While people can become involved in allocation processes through pre-structured participation, uninvited entry into planning processes may occur too. This article studies the latter, seeking to highlight the mechanisms of interaction between local governments and local opposition groups (LOGs) when conflict occurs about housing projects…
Rethinking Communication in Innovation Processes
This paper systematically rethinks the role of communication in innovation processes, starting from largely separate theoretical developments in communication science and innovation studies. Literature review forms the basis of the arguments presented. The paper concludes that innovation is a collective process that involves the contextual re-ordering of relations in multiple social networks. Such re-ordering cannot be usefully understood in term…
Organizing by Projective Hearing
This article aims to show that managers' reactions to employees, based on good listening, combined with a clear vision on what is important in the future, is in fact a strong organizing force. The “projective hearing” concept is introduced to capture this underrated ability that may explain why a strong delivery style is not the highway to effective leadership: what happens interactionally is probably more interesting. Projective hearing with ref…
Changed planning for planned and unplanned change
Change, planned and unplanned, can be the product of events (change by chance), new language (change from societal interaction), and practices (track-bound change), and can involve many different societal actors. To position planning as an activity within this broader context, we present a model that captures the interplay between these three sources of change, leading to a typology of change-inducing phenomena. Change, consequently, can be manag…
From cohesion to conflict in participatory forest management
The discursive construction of conflict in participatory forest management
The Agoua Forest in Benin was declared a protected area in 1953 and subsequently managed by means of a coercion system, which, however, did not prevent its deforestation. In 2002, a participatory management process was designed to restore this forest. Although the project managers and local communities agreed to a plan at the beginning of the process, the plan was not implemented because conflict arose in the course of the process. In this paper,…
Do Scale Frames Matter? Scale Frame Mismatches in the Decision Making Process of a "Mega Farm" in a Small Dutch Village
Scale issues are an increasingly important feature of complex sustainability issues, but they are mostly taken for granted in policy processes. However, the scale at which a problem is defined as well as the scale at which it should be solved are potentially contentious issues. The framing of a problem as a local, regional, or global problem is not without consequences and influences processes of inclusion and exclusion. Little is known about the…
Doing scalar politics
Complex policy issues increasingly play out in multilevel and multi-scale contexts. This allows for scale framing: framing an issue at a particular scale and level. In this article, we study scale framing as an interactional phenomenon in various policy settings, with a focus on its role in managing accountability. Using an interpretive approach, based on discourse and conversation analysis, we analyze three different policy interactions. We show…
My forest, my kingdom”—Self-referentiality as a strategy in the case of small forest owners coping with government regulations
Trust and hidden conflict in participatory natural resources management
The pivot points in planning
To organize new governance arrangements and to restore trust in spatial planning, contracts are often seen as vital policy instruments. The relations between contracts and trust are regularly studied from various perspectives. In this article, we add to the existing knowledge by exploring a dynamic perspective on the use of contracts over time and the influence thereof on trust dynamics. We conclude that, longitudinally, the use of contracts can …
Finding common ground in implementation
This article reports on an empirical study that aimed to design a practice-based theory about collaboration on the local implementation of a nationally developed health-promoting intervention. The study's objective is to better understand the dynamic process of complex collaboration. The research is based on a Delphi study among some 100 individuals in local and regional networks, in which various professionals work together to implement the Bewe…
Trust related dynamics in contested land use
Faking and forcing trust
Profiling healthy eaters. Determining factors that predict healthy eating practices among Dutch adults
Social media as a new playing field for the governance of agro-food sustainability
Silence in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration
Solving publicly important issues asks for the development of socio-technical approaches, which demands collaboration between researchers with different perspectives, values, and interests. In these complex interdisciplinary collaborations, the course of communication is of utmost importance, including the moments when people, consciously or not, keep silent. In 2012, an interdisciplinary group of water management engineers and scientists collabo…
Playing language games
Higher education quality is a vague, ambiguous, multiple, and essentially contested concept. Quality’s contested character involves endless disputes about its proper use which makes it problematic to handle in governmental policies. Wittgenstein’s notion of language games is used to understand how, through time, higher education quality is enacted in Dutch governmental policy texts, and how its uses are related to each other. The analysis depicts…
Social media hypes about agro-food issues
Sociology (29 works) · Political science (28 works) · Psychology (21 works) · Computer Science (15 works) · Public relations (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Law (14 works) · Geography (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (11 works)