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Foraging at the Edge of Capitalism

Descripción del proyecto

Comprender la búsqueda de alimentos como una estrategia económica básica

La búsqueda de alimentos, definida como la práctica de recolección, búsqueda entre la basura o espigueo, es un fenómeno mundial de nuestra era. Sin embargo, apenas ha captado atención en los debates generales sobre la conservación y el desarrollo. Carecemos de una comprensión conceptual de la búsqueda de alimentos como estrategia económica básica y forma de conexión socioambiental. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos FORAGING se propone asumir esta tarea y desarrollar una perspectiva ecológica política de la búsqueda de alimentos en el Antropoceno. En una época en que ya no parece viable el sueño de una clase media que pueda vivir con un empleo asalariado y estable, y en lugares donde el estado de bienestar está sometido a presión, nunca ha existido o ha desaparecido, la búsqueda de alimentos a menudo constituye la única vía para la movilidad social.

Objetivo

In this moment of economic and environmental breakdown, an unexpected source of income has risen in global importance: foraging. In Tibet and Nepal, scores of collectors rush to the mountains each spring to collect yartsagunbu – a rare mushroom more valuable than gold. In Siberia, “tuskers” scavenge for woolly mammoth ivory in the thawing permafrost. From Amazonia to Mongolia, artisanal miners extract precious minerals where transnational conglomerates have left. In the US, “Amazon nomads” tour foreclosed shops and sell their bounty online.

Broadly understood as practices of collecting, scavenging and gleaning, foraging is a global phenomenon of our times. However, it only gains patchy attention in mainstream debates on conservation and development. What is missing is a conceptual understanding of foraging as a basic economic strategy and a form of socio-environmental entanglement. The objective of this project is to take on this task and develop a political ecology of foraging in the Anthropocene.

The project is timely. In the aftermath of the world financial crisis between 2008 to 2011, foraging has gained in relevance around the globe. In an era when the dream of a middle-class life based on a stable, salaried job no longer seems viable, and in places where the welfare state is under pressure, has never existed or has vanished, foraging is often the only avenue to upward social mobility. At the same time, the climate crisis and concerns for the rapid loss of biodiversity are raising the urgency for environmental conservation. To understand the evolving frictions at this interface is highly relevant at this historical moment – both in academia and beyond.

Interdisciplinary in outlook but grounded in anthropology, the project will be carried out by an international team of five researchers at the Rachel Carson Center, LMU Munich. Outputs include 2 monograph, 3 edited collections, 3 PhD thesis, 12 peer-reviewed articles, a film and an exhibition.

Régimen de financiación

ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

Institución de acogida

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 1 999 625,00
Dirección
GESCHWISTER SCHOLL PLATZ 1
80539 MUNCHEN
Alemania

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Región
Bayern Oberbayern München, Kreisfreie Stadt
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 1 999 625,00

Beneficiarios (1)