Karen Langbehn
PhD Candidate, Applied Rhetoric of Science
University of South Florida
Tampa, United States
Water
WaterKnow-how:
Education: Masters
Bio: I’m currently revising a case study of the USF Patel Center's "Resilient
Tampa Bay: A Knowledge Exchange with Dutch Experts," in which I rhetorically
analyze the implications of re-framing climate change conversations about
adaptation as challenge appraisals to decision-makers. My analysis of the
knowledge exchange argues that re-framing crises as opportunities for
resilient responses can improve conditions for the economic and political
feasibility of initiating engineering as a primary mode of climate change
adaptation for coastal cities like Tampa Bay. I ultimately suggest that a
new way forward for coastal cities' adaptation to climate change requires an
integrated approach that synthesizes engineering with ecologically based
adaptation strategies and sustainable policies in the exchange of knowledge
about managing coastal cities' vulnerabilities.
From a rhetorical perspective, I see the traction of this integrated
approach as hinging on linguistic strategies of framing environmental
communication with the communications strategy of "challenge appraisals,"
through what the meta-discipline of rhetoric calls "boundary work:" more
specifically, work that re-frames climate change uncertainties/crises as
opportunities for resiliency for the purpose of opening new space for the
negotiation of resilient engineering strategies. Such re-framing, I argue,
is necessary for enabling scientists and decision-makers the agency to
develop and implement interdisciplinary climate change adaptation/resiliency
plans for Tampa Bay and other vulnerable U.S. coastal cities.
Additional information
Languages:
- English - Mother
Websites:
Member of:
- Cluster:
US-Netherlands Connection
Contact info
Phone:
8136242448