A Voice of One’s Own: An Investigation of Developing World Agency in Oxfam International’s 2009 Climate Change Campaign

Abstract

Climate change is an issue that is increasingly being adopted into various NGO campaigns. Drawing on a theoretical framework that is grounded in post-colonialism and subaltern studies, this thesis investigates representations of agency in the climate change discourse of Oxfam International. The central research question guiding the study is: To what extent do developing world people and countries have agency in Oxfam International’s 2009 climate change campaign? The methodological approach used to address this question combines content analysis and critical discourse to analyze 105 documents published by Oxfam in the lead up to the 2009 U.N. Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The findings reveal that that developing world subjects tend to possess less speaking space and to be represented with less agency than their developed world counterparts.