Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FORAGING (Foraging at the Edge of Capitalism)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2024-12-31
In this moment of economic and environmental breakdown, an unexpected source of income has risen in global importance: foraging. Where 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.
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 mode of subsistence and a form of socio-environmental entanglement. The objective of this project is to take on this task and work towards a comprehensive political ecology of foraging in the Anthropocene.
Combining case studies in five locations into a comparative study and using collaborative and visual ethnographic methods,
we develop a deeper understanding of contemporary foraging practices around the world.
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 mode of subsistence and a form of socio-environmental entanglement. The objective of this project is to take on this task and work towards a comprehensive political ecology of foraging in the Anthropocene.
Combining case studies in five locations into a comparative study and using collaborative and visual ethnographic methods,
we develop a deeper understanding of contemporary foraging practices around the world.
The project started with an extensive online research on foraging practices, followed by a selection of cases for closer inspection. Five subprojects have been developedk, covering field sites in Albania, Nepal, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the USA. Ethnographic fieldwork in these locations is currently ongoing.
The project provides the first comparative study of foraging practices not limited to organic goods. Taking the practice of foraging as a basic economic strategy (different from "production" in agriculture and industry) we look into the socio-environmental entanglements that take place in the fuzzy fringes of a capitalist world economy. Apart from papers and conference presentations, expected results include an exhibition and documentary films.