Yamil Hasbun Chavarria

The present dissertation analyzes the way in which particular constructions of ‘nature’ are assembled from bits and pieces of heterogeneous materials –such as policies, trees, discourses, carbon emissions, techno-scientific calculations, etc.– as leading ‘green’ actor-networks in Costa Rica; and how these assemblages interact with other parallel constructions of ‘nature(s)’ performatively in processes of constant mobilization, contestation and negotiation.

The overall analysis follows the methodological devices and theoretical stands of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and other closely related stands that allow to see beyond any and all binary distinctions between social, natural, technical, political, human and non-human actors.

The overall analysis is applied to one of the country’s leading actors of post-modern environmental conservation, the ‘Carbon-neutrality’ network embodied in the ‘C-Neutral’ certification program; and examines the interplay between distinct ‘green’ actors confronted in one or various controversies simultaneously. Namely the ‘eco-tourism’ (embodied in the CST certification) and the ‘renewable energy’ actor-networks among others.

Aside from the conceptual stands of ANT, the research also adopts critical principles of both ‘Environmental Governance’ theory and ’Governmentality’ theory.  The later theory affords for the examination of the ways in which these leading actors stabilize their own construction of ‘nature’ by enrolling other actors to act in a certain way; ultimately changing worldviews in accordance to largely unchallenged and taken-for-granted ‘ecologically responsible’ lifestyles embedded in green neo-liberalism and eco-capitalism.