Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Ethnographic research on the Oder River demonstrates how ecological crises erode both riverbanks and shared foundations of knowledge, as competing actors mobilise contested visual semiotics to redefine the river as nature, infrastructure, resource, or moral victim.

Paper long abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research on the Oder River conducted during episodes of ecological crises, this paper examines “ground” as a fragile material and semiotic configuration. The destabilisation of riverbanks, floodplains, and river ecologies parallels the erosion of shared grounds of knowledge, trust, and collective interpretation. Diverse social actors, including local residents, anglers, environmental activists, experts, and state institutions, mobilise contrasting visual and narrative frameworks to reframe the river as endangered nature, critical infrastructure, economic asset, or moral victim. These practices do not merely reflect polarised positions but actively generate persistent semiotic instability. Focusing on smartphone videos, drone footage, and their circulation across digital platforms, the paper shows how visual practices intensify experiences of crisis and uncertainty while simultaneously enabling provisional forms of re-grounding through witnessing, affective resonance, and claims to epistemic authority. Rather than re-establishing stability, such practices expose the ongoing labour through which fragile grounds are continuously produced, negotiated, and dismantled.