Paper short abstract:

Based on an ethnographic work conducted across different households in Chile, this paper suggests that while in upper class the aesthetic value prevails over sustainability’s concerns, in other groups, domestic practices of environmental care (repair, reuse, repurpose, etc.) have a prominent place.

Paper long abstract:

Due to the increased consumption and reduction of home sizes, storage and clutter have become one of the key concerns of contemporary domestic spaces. The anxiety caused by accumulation and disorder is commonly seen as directly related to the cumulative entry of goods into homes, while on the other hand minimalistic and thrifty homes are increasingly praised for their sustainability.

Based on an ethnographic work conducted across homes of three socioeconomic strata in Chile, this paper aims to understand the relationship between different discourses about order and their connection with domestic practices of environmental care (maintenance, repair, reuse, repurpose, recycle, etc.).

Preliminary results suggest that there is an inversely proportional relationship between willingness to accumulate objects -in order to expand their lives- and the importance a household gives to aesthetics. This relationship is directly linked to social class, and suggests that while in upper class households the aesthetic value prevails over sustainability’s concerns, in middle and lower class accumulation is promoted, and the lifespan of objects is understood in a more broad and loose way. These results come to contribute to the discussions on consumption, accumulation and climate crisis, while challenging the trend of minimal and austere homes.

Paper short abstract:

Detached houses built in the 1950s, not renovated or refurbished, can still be found for sale in Sweden. This paper will explore moments of negotiation, within the more-than-human relations that come into play when people renovate older houses for the purpose of using them as second homes.

Paper long abstract:

Detached houses built in the 1950s, not renovated or refurbished to suit late modern tastes and needs, can still be found for sale in Sweden. The prices are cheaper and enthusiasts of the era often appreciate details typical of the time. Bathrooms and kitchens usually work fine, but time inevitably takes its toll. The materials that once where new and shiny generally show signs of age and wear over half a decade later. Sometimes the decision to renovate is brought to the fore by the condition of utility areas, water damage or mould, even though the existing style of the house is what the buyer was compelled by in the first place. The issue of how to best care for, maintain - and often renovate – demand knowledge, labour, patience, money and time. Ideas and imaginaries relating to the past meet realities and practicalities of the here and now. Furthermore, materialities harbour their own demands and conditions.

This paper will explore moments of negotiation, within the more-than-human relations that come into play when people renovate older houses for the purpose of using them as second homes.

Paper short abstract:

Preserving food in jars seeks to make objects out of the very thing most defined by its ability to rot, fresh food. This paper will look at recipes and accounts of food preservation, both old and new, to explore how canning food establishes invokes the temporal, the aesthetic, and the moral.

Paper long abstract:

My grandmother, who grew up to hate carrots during the American Great Depression, canned food because if you grow up during the Depression, you never know when you will be stuck with just carrots. Better to be prepared. My friend, Claire, a fellow folklorist, cans for the zombie apocalypse. If climate disaster occurs tomorrow, our days of preserving tomatoes and trash-talking Foucault will come in handy. Danielle Christenson has written that the modern western canner, mostly middle class and urban, cans out of a sense of connecting to a past they know exists but have little access to except through recipes shared in internet canning groups and for the domestic certitude of all of those jars lined up. Though Shirley Jackson also described such lines of jars in the Blackwood family cellars – beautiful yet full of rot.

Preserving food in jars, making jams, and laying by seek to make objects out of the very thing most defined by its ability to rot, fresh food. These are practices of temporal gymnastics, recalling the past (who really needs to preserve food these days?) to reify the perishable present for an uncertain future. They are practices of aesthetics, containing the sensual. They are practices writ with moral and ethical high ground – canners are prepared, canners re-use, canners are sustainable and environmentally savvy. This paper will look at recipes and accounts of food preservation, both old and new, to explore how canning food establishes invokes the temporal, the aesthetic, and the moral.

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on an ethnographic research conducted in DIY biology labs in Belgium and in Europe, this paper examines how making sustainable materials and artifacts with mycelium requires particular care, focusing on material and social relationships between humans and nonhumans.

Paper long abstract:

Sometimes referred to as “biofabrication”, an emerging field relies on the tools of biotechnology to produce goods such as clothes or furniture with living (micro)organisms. Aiming at more sustainable alternatives and a cleaner manufacturing process, it gathers an increasing number of amateurs and professional scientists. Designers and architects, turning themselves into do-it-yourself biologists, are particularly keen on working with mycelium: they can indeed harness the vegetative part of fungi to produce a wide range of biodegradable materials. Drawing on an ongoing ethnographic research conducted in Western Europe, primarily in Belgium, this paper addresses how making artifacts with fungi (e.g., textile or brick) requires specific care. Indeed, those new materials often need more maintenance than their industrial counterparts to keep their precious properties before returning to earth as they will decompose. Moreover, fungi themselves must be properly cared for to make good partners in that ambitious project of making more livable futures for both humans and nonhumans (Brightman & Lewis, 2017). How are those cared-for elements articulated together in everyday practices in the lab and beyond? By examining processes of crafting new materials and ecological values, this paper takes seriously claims – from both interviewees and theories – about the agency of matter. Matter here is full of life, not only because a living organism partakes in its very being, but also because it is an active participant (Ingold 2012, Barad 2003) in encounters with humans.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on the trend of repair in Estonia, and its emotional, material and political aims. Based on two case studies, repair of commodities and personally significant things can be understood as maintenance of the social world, which is sometimes challenged by material decay.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation focuses on the reoccurring trend of repair of personal belongings and domestic commodities in Estonia, and its emotional, material and political aims. The empirical material of this research is based on ethnographic fieldwork in a local repair café and an analysis of one recent ethnographic art exhibition in Estonia. Both of these case studies show how people aim to cope with the vibrant matter, material agency, and material decomposition, which, besides the material world, challenges the human social world.

Personal belongings are inherently linked with persons, their biography and social relations. Things and materiality that compose the human socio-material world are often perceived to be permanent and persistent, which affords mnemonic qualities and evoke moments of care. However, in everyday life, things wear, break and decompose. From an anthropocentric perspective, the material world sometimes fails and does not allow human intentions. In a post-human view, materiality has its own life and temporality, and decay is a natural part of the life of vibrant materiality. Decay, as it occurs in the human relationship with objects, affords potential for creativity in repair, and rethinking social relationships and the past.

Decomposition of personally significant things, especially gifts or tangible family heritage, is often perceived as a rupture of social connections and love. Therefore people aim to maintain social relationships and care through repair. Through repair, they maintain their own social and material world, and connection between themselves and previous generations.

Paper short abstract:

This paper researches how reconstruction of clothing can be a method of preserving the knowledge of historic sewing and tailoring techniques. Exploring documentation of the research with photography, written descriptions and video to get a representation of how they ones were crafted.

Paper long abstract:

Reconstruction of historic garments has not previously taken a very big place in academia, but the last few years have seen a change with more scholars focusing their research on historical objects and research through reconstruction.

This paper focuses on how reconstruction of two late eighteenth century dresses can be a way of preserving the craft knowledge of the tailors who ones made the extant. The first extant garment was a dress consisting of a separate jacket and petticoat made of wool. The second a dress consisting of a bodice and skirt made of silk. The different materials and original usages of the dresses show different approaches to how they were made. The wool dress has courser linings and linen threads for most of the construction, whilst the silk dress has more delicate linings and trimmings and is almost completely sewn with silk thread.

Both the reconstructions were done with the techniques used over 200 years ago on the extants, trying to get as close as possible to the original constructions. This was documented in three ways; a thorough written documentation on each step and in which order to sew for all the garment pieces, the petticoat and skirt was further documented with photography and the jacket and bodice construction was documented via video. The research has shown different methods for documenting reconstructions. Which technique best fitted depends on the final use of the documentation as they show different sides of the reconstruction.