| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: While the Norwegian government, as a whole, seemingly recognizes the connection between nutrition, agriculture, and public health outcomes, there remains an ongoing reluctance for structural transformation among those working directly with agricultural policies. The Health Department provides evidence-based nutritional guidelines for improving health and wellness through nutrition, but the Agriculture Department continues to incentivize the production and consumption of products associated with increased risk of overweight, obesity and noncommunicable diseases. My aim with this thesis is to add to the growing conversation of food system transformation in Norway by asking how cultural conflicts are reflected in the discourses of nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
Method: This thesis is a critical discourse analysis of a televised panel discussion produced and distributed by Norsk rikskringkasting. Tools adapted from Fairclough’s Three Dimensional Model of Discourse Analysis were used to operationalize concepts of grid and group from Douglas’s Cultural Theory.
Findings: Four main and interrelated discourses concerning nutritional-sensitive agriculture in Norway were identified: (1) Heritage agriculture narrative discourse; (2) Nutrition-forward public health discourse; (3) Shaping Norwegian identity; (4) Discourse of sustainable food system. The values and ideologies that shaped the discourses exposed conflict between two dominant cultures: Conservative hierarchy and Dissident enclave. These two cultures are protagonists in a debate about control for resources in the changing landscape of nutrition and agriculture.
Conclusion: This analysis underscores how different cultural values and social structures impact debates about nutrition and agriculture by highlighting how powerful discourses influence policy directions and social acceptability of the interventions. The conflict of discourses concerning nutrition-sensitive agriculture is a clash between the cultural identities attached to the representation of a traditional food system and the contemporary authority of nutritional science.
Keywords: Agriculture, Culture, Discourse, Food system, Health, Norway, Nutrition, Nutrition-sensitive agriculture, Sustainability | |
