Paper short abstract:

The paper explores how a German-Brazilian intercultural centre in Berlin fosters diversity and social integration through collective bodily practices that perform principles of openness, multiplicity, and communality.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores how a German-Brazilian intercultural and religious centre, "Forum Brasil", located in Berlin, fosters cultural diversity and social integration through collective bodily practices. The institution has become more than a meeting point for Brazilian migrants seeking to reaffirm their cultural identity and to practice the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé outside their country of origin. Its recent project "Afropolitan" has attracted not only Germans and migrants with African background, but also a broad LGBT community. It seems precisely that what brings visitors from all over the world together in the centre is the possibility of union not despite, but within alterity, by feeling accepted and accepting others regardless of cultural background, gender, ethnicity or religious choice. This is enabled by several sociocultural events and courses held in the centre, most of which consist of music and dance activities. Ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with the centre's managers, audiences and religious practitioners support the investigation of the means by which these activities embody and perform principles of openness, multiplicity, inclusiveness and communality. The embodiment of such principles might foster cultural diversity, in the sense that different cultural practices more than accept, exchange with and enrich each other. Furthermore, such transcultural embodiment and exchange seem to contribute to the sustainability of the centre and of the cultural expressions involved through the promotion of social engagement, and, hence, through the strengthening of social cohesion in a multicultural city.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on theatre and urban gardening projects in Sweden that try to handle and promote cultural diversity. Sustainability is perceived as key when it comes to environmental issues, social integration as well as a balanced work life.

Paper long abstract:

In this presentation, we discuss how theatre and urban gardening projects handle and promote cultural diversity in Sweden. We build on data collected during the last decade in Malmö, a city characterised by immigration, super-diversity and a post-industrial economy. The projects we have studied are often short term and dependent on uncertain, external funding. The target groups of the projects are both 'new Swedes' i.e. immigrants and 'old Swedes' i.e. natives as the interaction and exchange between these are seen as vital for a sustainable future in social terms. The projects are typically permeated by ideals of equality, democracy and human encounters. It has however been confirmed through our research that the projects are, as a rule, equally distinguished by the imposition of perceived Swedish norms.

Despite the apparent differences between urban gardening and theatre, there are interesting similarities between the two. Both practices are seen as offering a possibility to cultivate a relationship with the Other and exchanging knowledge. Sustainability is key, both in the sense of environmentally friendly practices and social integration. A sustainable way of life can also refer to spiritual well-being, perceived to be highly important not least due to the stress of post industrial economy and "project life". While project life contributes to stress it is simultaneously seen a solution to the quandaries of society and an alternative way of life. We will show that the cultivation of a better self and a better society in gardening and theatre projects is intertwined.

Paper short abstract:

Urban gardens in Germany promoting sustainability establish places that allow for an altered experience of urbanity. Changing the contemporary, they inspire imaginations for the future. However, their own future is often uncertain, as they depend on the benevolence of their respective environment.

Paper long abstract:

Urban garden communities in Germany are promoting and enabling sustainability by creating places for 'citynature'. More than allowing the urban dweller to grow and obtain locally and ecologically produced food, urban gardens create materialities that often drastically differ from other city gardens and 'common' urban environments in Germany. As the established places allow for a fundamentally different experience of dwelling in the city, this paper thus argues, urban gardens help inspire and facilitate imaginations for the future, which are rooted in the present - as well as the challenges urban garden communities face.

This paper focuses on urban garden communities which are openly accessible for the public, actively engaging and encouraging the visitor to participate or to dwell and linger. Many adress the public through their online presences and connect with other garden projects, forming a network of support and mutual sharing of knowledge and skills. Through these activities and more, urban garden communities in Germany present local attempts to facilitate a change of the contemporary, while creating places for imagining, and negotiating a different future.

However, their own prospects are often uncertain. Most of these projects are run by volunteers and have to compete against powerful players within an urban environment that is growing denser and denser. As such, the future of urban gardens hinges on many various factors - the goodwill of city planners being a powerful of them.

Paper short abstract:

Borrowing the concept of growing from the biotic world and employing it to analyse the handling of things and materials by a group of reuse interior designers, this paper seeks to develop a theory of reused things and their social and ecological embeddedness.

Paper long abstract:

Borrowing the concept of growing from the biotic world and employing it to analyse the handling of things and materials by a group of reuse interior designers, this paper seeks to develop a theory of reused things and their social and ecological embeddedness.

Sustainable reuse interiors is an emerging field within the circular economy in Swedish society. As a consequence of recent reactions against wasteful renewal practices, public and corporate office spaces are increasingly revitalized by redesigning and upcycling salvaged materials, things and furniture. Given the heterogeneity and unpredictability of existing available materials, designers in this field need to be particularly attuned to materials and their qualities. They follow them and work along them, directing them along trajectories in order to extend their lifespan and to achieve specific functional and aesthetic goals. Materials and things, in turn, respond to these actions, and direct humans in various ways. This results in a collaborative process of attunement to the material and social affordances of things and humans. The paper argues that in contrast to making and constructing, growing can be understood as a continuous, evolving and irreversible process of interweaving internal properties of materials with external caring forces. Growing thus signifies both how usage and circulation add qualities and values to things and how these qualities and values are sought-after and actively enhanced by various growing techniques. This paper explores growing techniques of care, repair and creative redesign and the active becoming of things and materials through the incorporation of time.

Paper short abstract:

We would like to explore neo-peasants' visions of alternative, sustainable life in the countryside in Catalonia, and what it means to be neo-peasant in relation to imaginations, anticipations and aspirations for the sustainable future.

Paper long abstract:

In our recent ethnographic explorations we work with people who have moved from non-rural contexts to the countryside for ideological and/or practical reasons to implement the peasant lifestyle and economy (Willis, Campbell 2004) in Catalonia, Spain. We use the concept of "neo-peasants" to define this group. Many of neo-peasants believe that a sustainable lifestyle can only be implemented in the countryside, and that cities are by definition unsustainable. They mainly originate from movements that call for self-management, direct democracy, responsible consumption, food sovereignty, autonomy, and degrowth. They build rural initiatives with a goal of living and producing in a sustainable way, that is implementing economic and social practices in which care for people and environment is prioritized over profit.

In our presentation we would like to explore neo-peasants' visions of alternative, sustainable life in the countryside. How do neo-peasants refer to the concept of peasantry and how do they understand peasant lifestyle - what it used to be and what it is now? Why does it offer more sustainable way of life, according to them, and what do they expect from it? And finally, we would like to answer the question: What does it mean to be neo-peasant in relation to imaginations, anticipations and aspirations for sustainable future?

Paper short abstract:

Monasteries provide specific and spiritually coherent way of sustainable life. In our contribution we explore how monastic way of sustainable life is reproduced and reinterpreted in newly open dialogue with society after recent restitution of church properties in Czech Republic.

Paper long abstract:

While in the past years new wave of movements such as slow fashion, garbage free and local shopping, passive housing and others phenomena emerges, our research focus on much older efforts of sustainable way of life - Catholic monasteries of Benedictine tradition. The monasteries might not always be seen as possible allies in these contemporary efforts. Is it because of feudal structure of organization, image of oppression of individualities, gender divided roles and imperative of obedience? Or the main difference lays in the beyond-this- life framing of the monastic "project"? In past four years of our research of contemporary monastic life in Czech Republic and Austria we have been witnesses of the living based on community life, sharing resources, ecological food production, reduced consumption and all-pervading spirituality. Our aim is to show how these characteristics are being reproduced and investigate how this peculiar continuity is being achieved. The specific dynamics of currently ongoing process of restitution of church properties in Czech Republic uncovers how the above mentioned quality of monastic life can play important role in redefining places of monastic communities in local societies: if the contemporary western societies have some expectations about the usefulness of monasticism, it is much about the art of sustainable life. The analysis of the dialogue between the societal expectations and monastic reinterpretations of their tradition enable us to better understand the different framings of sustainability.

Paper short abstract:

Through ethnographic work, this paper questions the inherent contradictions in a developmental project in Fiji that simultaneously promotes sustainable development and economic growth.

Paper long abstract:

"Our goal is to help people out of the poverty they are living in by encouraging and facilitating ways to grow and sell their crops in the city." I was talking to a government employee on the outer, rural island I was living on, in Fiji. He was emphasizing the importance of the island's resources as a means for economic growth and sustainable development. Climate change and economic growth are two of the main focus areas in Fiji, with special attention on living sustainably by using resources from land and sea. The idea of sustainable food production draws on Fiji's rich environment and long traditions of planting and fishing. The traditional means of subsistence are however under threat as the climate and environment in people's immediate surroundings is rapidly changing.

Through ethnographic work, this paper questions the inherent contradictions in a developmental project that simultaneously promotes sustainable development and economic growth. Those already vulnerable to environmental change become even more vulnerable through such a focus, as their dependence on crops increase with the need to both feed the family and sell produce for income. That which they should rely on in times of environmental crisis is exploited for economic benefit.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the future-making potential of processes of translation occurring among rural residents, NGO practitioners, and scientists - and the 'brokers' who inhabit and traverse multiple roles - as they negotiate community watershed management in Belize.

Paper long abstract:

In rural Belize, residents and community groups have mobilised in different ways to challenge threats to their lives and livelihoods, and to create conditions for liveable futures, for example with respect to the provision and governance of land and water. Meanwhile, as part of efforts towards sustainable development goals, governmental and non-governmental organisations are promoting 'watershed management' projects to assess and manage not only water but also ecosystem and human dimensions of resource stewardship and climate change: agendas that often involve a stated element of community participation. This paper explores what happens in the resulting encounters between citizens, government, NGOs, and researchers: what do their diverse ideals and interventions mean and entail for the people who depend on the environments in question? How do different framings of problems and solutions create more-or-less possible socioecological futures?

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and wider research into future-making practices of weather/climate forecasting and environmental planning, I examine translations that occur when scientists propose, or are invited to contribute to, monitoring/management of protected areas that are 'co-managed' by communities. Rural development and conservation interventions in Belize have been complicated by legacies of colonialism, indigenous rights struggles, territorial disputes and failed projects. Addressing historical and contemporary power dynamics, this paper reflects on: diverse modes of engagement within and between communities, governments, NGOs, and researchers; the roles of brokers who inhabit multiple roles in these relationships; and the imaginaries of nature, infrastructure and life that underpin knowledge, experience and expectations of environmental and human health.

Paper short abstract:

The paper, based on ethnographic research on climate change and particularly drought in the Czech Republic, explores, how interactions and pragmatic use of various knowledge systems establish the local notion of the conditions for sustainable water management.

Paper long abstract:

During my research on drought in South Moravia, the Czech Republic, one of my research partners told me: 'We have a water pipeline here, so I´m not concerned about drought'. This was quite surprising statement from an inhabitant of a region considered (by media, natural scientists, politicians) one of the most vulnerable to drought in Czechia.

Obviously, drought is a negotiated and contextual reality. My paper introduces a project called InterSucho ('InterDrought'), supported by the Czech Academy of Sciences, aimed at (1) monitoring and prediction of meteorological and agricultural drought in Czechia and Central Europe; (2) developing possible measures to promote sustainable water management. The project works mainly with data produced by measurements (satellites, moisture meters etc.) and mathematical models; however, smaller part comes from observations reported by local farmers.

My research reveals that scientists involved in the project feel a moral commitment, stemming from their 'scientific knowledge' on drought, to promote environmental awareness. They strive to find convincing frames and arguments which could help them to transfer their knowledge to the 'local' people, who sometimes seem to doubt the need for sustainable water use. I argue that while it is impossible to draw a clear line between the scientific and local knowledge and practice, both being constructed according to values and relevance accepted within a particular community, the notion of 'knowledge transfer' is inaccurate. Rather, it is crucial to analyze how interactions and pragmatic use of various knowledge systems establish the local notion of the conditions for sustainability.