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.