43
2
because the levels may overlap to some degree (Chandler 2017). Nevertheless, the
African desert landscape in . Photo 2.1 may tentatively serve as an example. The
denotative meaning of this image would simply be a dry landscape with cracked
soil, and the connotative meaning could refer to nature under threat through overexploitation. The mythical meaning would be related to the historically manufactured idea of ‘desertification’ (Benjaminsen and Berge 2004).
This is an old colonial trope originally linked to European perceptions of environmental degradation, such as overgrazing, deforestation, soil erosion and general careless mismanagement by African smallholders. . Photo 2.1 is an example
of an iconic image that efficiently transmits ideas of desertification conveying variegated associations to its viewers depending on their knowledge and background.
Yet, among most observers, the photograph will generate the idea of desert
encroachment (in Africa) caused by local mismanagement or climate change, or
both in combination. This is also an idea that tends to resist empirical evidence,
such as the fact that the drylands in the Sahel have become greener during the last
30 years (Benjaminsen and Hiernaux 2019).
Myths move beyond connotation, because they are taken for granted and not
questioned. In this way, myths have much in common with crisis narratives that
also resist empirical knowledge that goes against their storyline (Roe 1999). As
Barthes points out, myths are depoliticized stories that work to conceal the ideological function of images. In . Photo 2.1, the hidden ideology would be a
Eurocentric, Malthusian and neo-colonial view of African landscapes and their
users, thereby contributing to the justification of the use of strict measures to arrest
desertification—through fines, restricted use and sometimes the use of violence.
While discourses are structures that are produced, reproduced and changed by
actors, Foucault has been criticized for a conception of what some see as actor-less
. Photo 2.1 Cracked clay is an image often used to depict desertification. This is usually soil which
cracks after having been flooded. Areas with clay are usually found in the lower parts of landscapes
and tend to be flooded in the rainy season before they dry up in the dry season. When searching
photo data bases for ‘desertification’, various similar photos of cracked clay are offered. Especially
around the annual World Day to Combat Desertification (17th June), such images accompany articles on desertification published on websites and in printed media on a global scale. (Source: Getty
Images/Athul Krishnan)
2.3 · Poststructuralism
2
because the levels may overlap to some degree (Chandler 2017). Nevertheless, the
African desert landscape in . Photo 2.1 may tentatively serve as an example. The
denotative meaning of this image would simply be a dry landscape with cracked
soil, and the connotative meaning could refer to nature under threat through overexploitation. The mythical meaning would be related to the historically manufactured idea of ‘desertification’ (Benjaminsen and Berge 2004).
This is an old colonial trope originally linked to European perceptions of environmental degradation, such as overgrazing, deforestation, soil erosion and general careless mismanagement by African smallholders. . Photo 2.1 is an example
of an iconic image that efficiently transmits ideas of desertification conveying variegated associations to its viewers depending on their knowledge and background.
Yet, among most observers, the photograph will generate the idea of desert
encroachment (in Africa) caused by local mismanagement or climate change, or
both in combination. This is also an idea that tends to resist empirical evidence,
such as the fact that the drylands in the Sahel have become greener during the last
30 years (Benjaminsen and Hiernaux 2019).
Myths move beyond connotation, because they are taken for granted and not
questioned. In this way, myths have much in common with crisis narratives that
also resist empirical knowledge that goes against their storyline (Roe 1999). As
Barthes points out, myths are depoliticized stories that work to conceal the ideological function of images. In . Photo 2.1, the hidden ideology would be a
Eurocentric, Malthusian and neo-colonial view of African landscapes and their
users, thereby contributing to the justification of the use of strict measures to arrest
desertification—through fines, restricted use and sometimes the use of violence.
While discourses are structures that are produced, reproduced and changed by
actors, Foucault has been criticized for a conception of what some see as actor-less
. Photo 2.1 Cracked clay is an image often used to depict desertification. This is usually soil which
cracks after having been flooded. Areas with clay are usually found in the lower parts of landscapes
and tend to be flooded in the rainy season before they dry up in the dry season. When searching
photo data bases for ‘desertification’, various similar photos of cracked clay are offered. Especially
around the annual World Day to Combat Desertification (17th June), such images accompany articles on desertification published on websites and in printed media on a global scale. (Source: Getty
Images/Athul Krishnan)
2.3 · Poststructuralism