Elvira Caselunghe

My thesis builds on two different empirical cases that are products of the Swedish 2001 nature conservation policy, which emphasized the democratic aspects of nature conservation. I investigate how two diverse enactments/applications of this policy (implemented through the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency) have expressed different democratic qualities, mainly referring to deliberative democracy and public spheres.

The first case is a large scale communicative skills development program for educating nature conservation administrators, and I study its potential to improve the combining of ecological and democratic conservation objectives.

The second case is nature/heritage interpretation, such as nature guiding at visitors centres (naturum) in protected areas. What are the democratic aspects of the interpretative activities and how could these communicative spaces be developed to invite people for public deliberation on environmental and conservation issues?

My research approach is inspired by hermeneutics, critical theory and action research methodology and I use qualitative research methods.

My research interest also includes environmental and natural resource management more generally, yet from a communicative and/or democratic point of view. I have previously worked with research related to sustainable agriculture, and I also have an interest in the urban-rural divide and its meaning for natural resource management.

During 2016 I have been associated with Department of Communication at University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, as a visiting scholar.

I enjoy teaching and have previously been involved in several teaching activities from giving lectures and leading seminars, to student supervision and course administration on various courses offered at the unit for Environmental Communication.

I have a background in Biology and Natural Resource Management, with an MSc in Ecology from SLU (2007). My interest in the society-nature intersection brought me to Environmental Communication already during my MSc thesis work. By doing research in Environmental Communication, I definitely have turned into social sciences, although I still have an understanding of natural sciences and the interplay between different knowledge traditions. I have also been working at the Swedish Centre for Nature Interpretation (Centrum för naturvägledning) at SLU.

Conference papers and presentations

Caselunghe, E., Nordström Källström, H. & Ahnström, J. 2009. Landscape and Place Concepts Meeting through Encounters between Birdwatchers and Farmers. In: Environmental Communication as Nexus. Proceedings of the 10th Biennial Conference on Communication and the Environment. Pp 355-369.

http://www.esf.edu/ecn/downloads/COCE_2009_Proceedings.pdf

Nordström Källström, H. & Caselunghe, E. 2010. Can social sustainability be measured? Paper presented at Nordic rural futures: pressures and possibilities research conference on the future of Nordic rural areas, May 4, in Uppsala, Sweden.

http://www.sol.slu.se/nrf/book_of_abstracts.pdf

Caselunghe, E. 2011. Forskningsperspektiv på naturvägledning. (Research perspectives on nature interpretation.) Presentation på konferensen Friluftsforskning 2011, Umeå, den 9-10 november.

http://www.friluftsforskning.se/download/18.34b66006132ea9e960980005170/Fif+rapport+18.pdf

Book chapters

Hansen, H.P. & Caselunghe, E. 2012. Naturvägledning som demokratiskt forum för framtidsfrågor - ett hållbarhetsperspektiv på naturvägledningen (Nature Interpretation as a democratic space for deliberation on the future – A sustainability perspective). In: Thiel, P. (red) Skapa sammanhang – naturvägledning som lärande för hållbar utveckling. Centrum för naturvägledning.

Reports

Caselunghe, E. 2012. Forskningsperspektiv på naturvägledning. Rapporter Institutionen för stad och land 3/2012. http://www.slu.se/Documents/externwebben/centrumbildningar-projekt/centrum-for-naturvagledning/Centrum%20f%c3%b6r%20naturv%c3%a4gledning_dokument/2012_3_webb.pdf

Caselunghe, E. & Nordström Källström, H. 2007. Lantbrukarnas framtidsbilder, delstudie inom regional landskapsstrategi för Stockholms län. In: Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län. Det storstadsnära landskapet. Regional landskapsstrategi – en pilotstudie. Rapport 2007:34.

http://projektwebbar.ab.lst.se/upload/dokument/publikationer/M/Rapportserien/2007/R2007_34_Bilaga_4_Lantbrukarnas_framtidsbilder.pdf

Caselunghe, E. & Nordström Källström, H. 2008. Indikatorer för social hållbarhet på landsbygden. En översikt av indikatoranvändning för uppföljning av social hållbarhet i policysammanhang med relevans för landsbygdsutveckling i Sverige. Delrapport i utvärdering av lbu-programmets sociala dimensioner. Unpublished manuscript.  

Arnell, A., Caselunghe, E., Hultman, S-G., Jansson, S., Johansson, L., Sandberg, E., Sonnvik, P. 2009. Naturvägledning i Sverige – en översikt. (Nature interpretation in Sweden.) Rapporter Institutionen för stad och land nr 5/2009. SLU Uppsala.

http://www.sol.slu.se/cnv/dokumentarkiv/rapport5_2009_NVL_Sverige_webb_andrarevupplagan.pdf

Master thesis

Caselunghe, E. (2007). Collaboration between Birdwatchers and Farmers to Improve Conservation Management for Farmland Birds. Master Thesis (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology) vol. 2007:1.

http://ex-epsilon.slu.se:8080/archive/00001655/

Popular science

Ljunggren Bergeå, H., Caselunghe, E., Nordström Källström, H., Ljung, M. (2011). Rådgivning om naturvård som affärsidé. (Agricultural extension that promotes nature conservation as a business idea.) Fakta Jordbruk. Rön från Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet. Nr 3, 2011. ISSN: 1403-1744. SLU Uppsala.

http://www.slu.se/Documents/externwebben/overgripande-slu-dokument/popvet-dok/faktajordbruk/Jo11-03.pdf