Ofori-Parku Sylvester Senyo
The University of Alabama, USA.
Public Underst Sci. 2018 Feb;27(2):197-213. doi: 10.1177/0963662516685488. Epub 2017 Jan 16.
This study examines how local residents make sense of offshore oil production risks in Ghana's nascent petroleum industry. From a naturalistic-interpretive perspective, it is primarily based on in-depth interviews with community residents: 8 opinion leaders, 15 residents, and 1 journalist. Residents associate Tullow's oil activities with health concerns (e.g. conjunctivitis), environmental challenges (e.g. the emergence of decomposed seaweeds along the shore), and socio-economic concerns (e.g. loss of livelihoods, decline in fish harvest, and increased rent and cost of living). Focusing on how the local, practical knowledge of interviewees manifest in their sense of offshore oil risks, the study identifies two strategies-scapegoating and tacit knowing-underlying how residents construe offshore oil risks and benefits. Beyond its theoretical contribution to the social construction of risk process, the study illustrates the challenge the expert-lay publics dichotomy poses (and the potential bridging this dichotomy has) for corporate and societal risk management.
本研究考察了加纳新兴石油工业中当地居民如何理解海上石油生产风险。从自然主义解释的视角来看，它主要基于对社区居民的深度访谈：8位意见领袖、15位居民和1名记者。居民将塔洛石油公司的活动与健康问题（如结膜炎）、环境挑战（如海岸沿线出现腐烂海藻）以及社会经济问题（如生计丧失、渔业收成下降、租金上涨和生活成本增加）联系起来。该研究聚焦于受访者的地方性实践知识如何体现在他们对海上石油风险的认知中，确定了两种策略——找替罪羊和隐性认知，这是居民理解海上石油风险与收益的基础。除了对风险过程的社会建构的理论贡献外，该研究还说明了专家与普通民众二分法对企业和社会风险管理所构成的挑战（以及弥合这种二分法的潜力）。
