A poststructural feminist analysis of racialised discourse in Green Social Prescribing policy (England, 2018-2024)

This thesis studies racialised discourses within policy on Green Social Prescribing (GSP) in England during the period 2018-2024. The central question that I seek to answer is, how are racialised inequalities represented as ‘problems’ in GSP policy discourse? Extending from this, I ask, how can a genealogical analysis make visible, and challenge, the silences and assumptions that render GSP legible as a solution to racialised ‘problems’? Finally, what are the effects of racialised discourses in GSP policy? I use feminist poststructural policy analysis to analyse and unsettle the representation, and racialisation, of ‘problems’. Foucauldian in its approach, Bacchian analysis (“What’s the Problem Represented to be?”) offers a framework to explore the political processes of knowledge production (Bacchi & Goodwin, 2016). I focus on the silences and assumptions embedded in the production of racialised knowledge within GSP policy-discourse, and the effects of such intertextual dynamics. Key findings include the nature of GSP policy as ‘non-performative’, which is a way in which institutional and structural racisms are upheld (Ahmed, 2016, p.116). Key findings include the nature of GSP policy as ‘non-performative’, which is a way in which institutional and structural racisms are upheld (Ahmed, 2016, p.116). Key findings outline how exactly this happens within GSP policy: the constitution of a racialised subject position as always and already outside of ‘nature’; the racialisation and objectification of ‘natural environments’; discourses of inclusion, responsibilisation, and culturalist racism; the absent-presence of race/ethnicity and euphemistic language; and performative citations leading to Othering and stereotypes. Through analysis and discussion of the racialised politics of knowledge production I come to highlight ways in which institutionally racist policies are remade and celebrated. I discuss the shortcomings of policymaking processes and knowledge production infields relevant to GSP. Finally, I consider alternative ways of making knowledge and policies that maintain accountability, and can produce anti-deficit and equitable nature-based health interventions.