Learning to Leader. Ritualised Performances of 'Participation' in Local Arenas of Participatory Rural Governance

Bibliographic Data

ID3138620
AuthorsOliver Müller (0000-0002-6789-4630, Department of Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology University of Bonn Am Hofgarten 22 53113 Bonn Germany), Ove Sutter (0000-0003-2692-4001, Department of Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology University of Bonn Am Hofgarten 22 53113 Bonn Germany, corresponding author), Sina Wohlgemuth (Department of Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology University of Bonn Am Hofgarten 22 53113 Bonn Germany)
Year2020
Volume60
Issue1
Pages222-242
Publication date2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociologia Ruralis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0199 • E-ISSN: 1467-9523
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soru.12287
OpenAlexW2989632952
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited49

The active involvement of local residents in development projects has become a keystone in current rural governance arrangements in the European Union. The latter's rural development programme LEADER is an example of this, as it requests local residents to take action in the development process. Yet, despite the strong emphasis on 'participation' in policy texts and rhetoric, there is only a formalistic definition of what 'participation' as involvement and activation of local residents actually means and how it should be put into practice. Drawing on data gathered during ethnographic fieldwork in two LEADER regions and the insights of practice and performance theory, this article argues that because of this indeterminacy, 'participation' as a social practice must first be realised and defined in a performative way, i.e., it must be practiced, negotiated and legitimised in specific physical-spatial settings. These settings serve as local arenas of participatory rural governance in which local residents are activated and involved in the implementation of LEADER projects. Assuming certain roles and carrying out specific activities related to material artefacts, they negotiate the meaning of 'participation' as a social practice

Citizen journalism · Corporate governance · Deliberation · Epistemology · Ethnography · Management · Negotiation · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Rhetoric · Social science · Sociology · Children's Rights and Participation · Law · Public Administration · Rural development and sustainability · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development

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