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Envi06


Circular economy practices: facing global uncertainty through local strategies 
Convenors:
Francesco Vettori (University of Bologna)
Janice Trajano (Universidade Federal de Pelotas)
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Format:
Panel
Stream:
Environment
:
B2.23
Sessions:
Friday 9 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Prague

Short Abstract:

This panel brings together research on circular practices, such as recycling, repairing, reusing and sharing knowledge, with the aim of establishing a particular focus on alternative strategies implemented by community groups to deal with situations of climatic, social and economic uncertainty.

Long Abstract:

As Krenak (2019) has pointed out, human beings are increasingly moving away from practices that recognise the pluralities of living, destroying living spaces for themselves and other species, interrupting cycles and engendering harmful discontinuities (Haraway 2015, Tsing 2015). Through this scenario, scholars are investigating alternative solutions from this framework. The circular economy (CE), an original perspective on the socio-economic world, has been making its way into the public sphere, gaining authority and credibility to the point where it is considered not just one possible route among others, but the alternative pathway to the future.

Comparative studies on CE highlight both its broadness, which includes different realities, from transnational phenomena to local processes, and the lack of social dimension in most of the CE research (Merli 2017). In this conceptual framework, anthropology can bring out aspects usually not addressed in the debate on CE, such as the importance of collective participation and social justice (Berry 2021), the contradictions in the application of circular models (Schulz 2019) and the informal circular strategies deployed by local communities of practice (Wenger 1998).

The panel welcomes reflections and case studies related to circular community practices such as recycling, repairing and reusing objects and resources, as well as the sharing of expertise and traditions (knowledge circularity). What do anthropologists have to say about this new paradigm? What circular practices and alternative epistemologies emerge from fieldwork? Contributions highlighting the relationship between global crises and local communities' response to cope with situations of uncertainty will be particularly appreciated.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Friday 9 June, 2023, -