Ethical narratives in contested landscapes : the implementation and experience of public policy values for traveller caravan sites

Parnell-Berry, Bryel

Abstract

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary approach to investigate decision-making in English local authorities, through an ethnographic, narrative framework. Based on fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2010, the thesis explores several families’ experiences of local government policymaking. The thesis provides a new perspective on the constructions of communities and identities through policy design and implementation.The research has also paid close attention to local government practitioners, the organisations they work within and the roles they have played in the lives of the aforementioned families. The thesis shows how the practitioners’ decision-making creates an ethical narrative, which in itself can tell a story of how social and physical worlds are built.

The thesis contributes to the community-based perspectives in public administration literature through the analysis of narratives and community
identity construction.

Employing the methodological approach of Critical Discourse Analysis, also involving aesthetic observations, the research shows how policymaking itself serves as a story-telling practice within local government. Making use of Traveller caravan sites as a stage, the research illustrates stories of building, managing and evicting sites, as a way to discuss localised power, citizenship and value-systems in present-day England.

Citation

Parnell-Berry, B. (2013). Ethical narratives in contested landscapes : the implementation and experience of public policy values for traveller caravan sites. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4219935

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Feb 14, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Keywords: Business
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4219935
• Additional Information: Business School, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Mar 1, 2013