Koen P. R. Bartels - Communicative Capacity: Public Encounters in Participatory Theory and Practice

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by

Policy Press University of Bristol 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 e-mail

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Policy Press 2015

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ISBN 978-1-4473-1850-7 Hardcover
ISBN 978-1-4473-3456-9 ePub
ISBN 978-1-4473-3457-6 Mobi

The right of Koen P.R. Bartels to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Readers Guide
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To Noemi,

with whom communicating is always easy

Tables

Figures

Writing a book creates many debts, I once read. I wholeheartedly agree, but would like to add that it actually does something else as well: it builds relationships. There is no way I can ever fully repay those who have devoted so much of their energy, time, and kindness to helping me in producing this piece of work. But what I can do is honour my relationships with them in the same kind of heartfelt manner that they showed me.

First of all, I am eternally grateful to all the people who granted me the time and willingness to be interviewed for the research. They form the core of this book. Moreover, my fieldwork would not have been possible without the extensive support of Claire Bynner (Glasgow), Liesbeth Ottes, Karin Daman, Seyit zilhan (Amsterdam), Giovanni Ginocchini, and Chiara Sebastiani (Bologna). I could not have done the interviews in Bologna without the help of Sara Procopio.

The book is an adaptation of the PhD thesis I wrote at the University of Glasgow. I would like to thank Barry OToole, Annette Hastings, and Kelly Kollman for their wise, patient and effective supervision, always providing comments that went right to the heart of the matter, as well as all the members of the Department of Politics for the warm and supportive climate in which I took my first real steps into academia. I should also acknowledge the groundwork laid by my Research Masters at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University, with a special note of recognition going to Hendrik Wagenaar for his (continued) erudite supervision and his committed instructions on qualitative interviewing, grounded theory analysis and interpretative research. Finally, I am grateful to the Business School at Bangor University for granting me the time to produce this book.

I could not have written this book without all the helpful comments of many wonderful colleagues. The heart-warming interest Margaret Stout has shown in my research and the invaluable and thorough comments she provided for this book are an exceptional feat of collegiality and dedication. The insightful comments of two anonymous reviewers have been instrumental in significant revisions of the original manuscript. The editorial support from Laura Vickers and Emily Watt at Policy Press has facilitated a smooth and constructive publication process. Over the years, the book has also benefited from comments from and conversations with Mark Bevir, Sonia Bussu, Giliberto Capano, Tom Catlaw, Laurence de Carlo, Veronica Elas, Oliver Escobar, John Forester, Justin Frosini, Naomi Head, Merlijn van Hulst, Sandra Kensen, Don Kim, David Laws, Rodolfo Lewanski, Frits van der Meer, Tamara Metze, Martien van Rijn, Sam Robertshaw, Pat Shields, Karen Siegel, Dragan Stanievski, Imrat Verhoeven, and Frank de Zwart. I am grateful to Andrew Floyer Ackland and Diana Pound for granting me permission to use and amend the PIN diagram (Figure 2.1) as well as for their comments. I am indebted to Oliver Escobar for making me aware of it.

Finally, I need to acknowledge the unconditional support of my friends and family. I need not mention any names for them to know who I am talking about. One person does deserve to be put in the spotlight: my wife Noemi Mantovan. I could never have written this book without her relentless help, love, and devotion. Also, without the hours she spent checking emails and interview transcripts, the research in Italy would simply not have been possible. But most of all, she kept me sane throughout the process in a way that made me learn much more about communication than any research could ever do.

While most of the people most of the time do not achieve excellence most of us recognize and admire excellence in others when we see it performed. Capacities for communicating in situations of social difference and conflict can be developed and deepened and a public is always better if more of its members have more developed capacities than fewer. (Iris Marion Young, 2000, p 80)

So then Im in a meeting, theres twenty folk there, maybe a wee bit less, maybe fifteen folk, Im the only normal person, Im the only resident. Everybody else sitting at that table has qualifications like you wouldnt believe, has senior jobs within Glasgow City Council, hundreds and hundreds of other agencies. And then theres me, mum of two, um, wife of one. Thats incredibly intimidating. And lots of people, and I dont know that they necessarily do it deliberately, but they make it much harder for you, because they talk to each other in the language that they understand, the language of, you know, community development. And they talk to each other using terminology that is exclusive to their jobs. When youre a community resident, you dont know what theyre talking about. Its very, very difficult. I kinda work in the sense that Ill just stop the meeting and Ill say Excuse me, what do you actually mean? Because if they actually want me to participate, they need to explain to me what theyre talking about. Its not because Im stupid, its simply because I dont work in their environment and Im not used to the terminology that they use. I shouldnt be put in that position, where Im having to say Go ahead and change your language so that I can understand you. And then, nine times out of ten, for the rest of that meeting it will be toned down. But the next time you come in (Mary resident, Glasgow)