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- Convenors:
-
Katharina Lange
(Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient)
Katja Geisenhainer (University of Vienna and Frobenius Institute Frankfurt)
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- Format:
- Panel
Short Abstract:
This panel invites critical approaches to written and unwritten knowledge about agriculture and farming, and the field of tension between them. Among other issues, papers may address moments of innovation, gendered and generational differences, scholarly accounts, and non-written representations.
Long Abstract:
Agrarian knowledge and innovations have long been a classic topic of interest for ethnographers and anthropologists. Although knowledge about agriculture is mentioned in some of the oldest written documents of human history, it has typically been transmitted in unwritten ways: passed on across generations as practical and haptic knowledge, and encapsulated in oral traditions and rules about planting cycles, seasonal and climatic factors. Historically, innovations embodied in material implements such as ploughs or yokes have sparked entire anthropological theories about the history of humankind.
Since the establishment of the first agricultural colleges in the early 19th century, however, knowledge about farming has increasingly been produced, codified and disseminated in a scientific manner. In missionary, imperial and colonial contexts, agricultural studies were – also – a means of standardizing and “developing” hitherto remote and marginal social groups and areas. Yet until today, unwritten ways of knowing continue to exist alongside academic knowledge of agriculture, often leading to contestations and controversies, even conflict, about the best methods of farming and cultivation.
This panel invites critical approaches to written and unwritten knowledge about agriculture and farming, and the field of tension between them. In particular, we are interested how this field of tension becomes visible with regard to moments of innovation, reform or ‘green revolution’; but also through gendered and generational differences, in scholarly accounts, and non-written (e.g., visual or material) modes of representation. We equally welcome empirical studies and contributions from the history of science.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper Short Abstract:
The paper explores certain previously overlooked aspects of Ignacy Czerwiński’s Okolica zadniestrska (1811) related to the writing and unwriting of agricultural knowledge in Boyko Land, the practices involved in its transfer and preservation, and the proposed improvements to traditional agriculture.
Paper Abstract:
The book entitled Okolica zadniestrska by Ignacy Lubicz Czerwiński (1749–1834) was published in 1811 in Lviv. Later researchers have dubbed it the first ethnographic monograph in the Polish language. Ignacy Czerwiński, a trained lawyer, nobleman, and owner of a number of villages located in Boyko Land, a region in today’s Ukraine, perceived the peasantry of the day (still referred to as “glebae adscrpti”) as a distinct community with its own history, culture, and aspirations, as well as a wealth of knowledge on the specific character of the local land (soil) and its cultivation, the local climate, plant species, animal husbandry, etc. The unique value of his work stems, among other aspects, from its detailed description of the allocation of responsibilities, particular peasant skills, specificity of tools and methods used in agriculture, as well as the ways in which such knowledge was passed on to subsequent generations and preserved. In my study, I underscore the still largely untapped potential of his writings as a vivid description of living culture and practices (illiterate, haptic, oral and emulative) related to agriculture, history of ethnology and environmental studies. I help the reader to understand the ways in which Czerwiński explored peasant tradition and agricultural practices, as well as the various innovations that he – as a landowner himself – proposed in terms of land management, agricultural methods and techniques. The latter contributions were offered based on his firsthand experience, observation, as well as study of other authors’ texts on the subject.
Paper Short Abstract:
Scientific forestry is considered one of the tools of the modern state in rationalizing geographies, but we know little about how individuals internalized and made critiques on the contradictions of their training and on-the-ground realities. In this work-in-progress, I focus on my father’s forestry career (1943-1983) by examining reports, notes and images from his work in the service of the Turkish Forestry Ministry (1943-1968) and the FAO.
Paper Abstract:
Scientific forestry is considered one of the tools of the modern state in rationalizing geographies, but we know little about how individuals internalized and made critiques on the contradictions of their training and on-the-ground realities. In this work-in-progress, I focus on my father’s forestry career (1943-1983) by examining reports, notes and images from his work in the service of the Turkish Forestry Ministry (1943-1968) and the FAO. Forestry developed in the late Ottoman Empire (1857) and later in modern Turkey under French, German and Austrian schools and was a national, economic, and moral imperative. Reports filed by afforestation engineers use the language of development: European ideals, and ‘primitive’ failures on the ground based on lack of knowledge. My father’s experience with rural areas across Turkey was significant. Describing the forestry enterprise as a field-based vocation that needs to rely on local knowledge and socio-economic contexts, he critiqued the ‘imitation method’ of applying ‘forestry for forests’ (based on French or German techniques) from the top down rather than creating forestry strategies for particular contexts. Fast-growing trees were an important aspect of European, particularly Mediterranean, post Second World War recovery, and he attended meetings of the International Poplar Commission (1964) where he was tasked with seeking funding and strengthening the international position of the Izmit Poplar Institute. He not only authored a poplar planting handbook, but also wrote a poetic anthropomorphic essay, ‘Cry of the Poplar’ in which a poplar addresses ‘humankind’ to tell them how to help poplars thrive.
Paper Short Abstract:
The paper investigates situated, non-verbal, embodied agricultural knowledge in the face of taxological, logocentric, visually oriented ethnographic descriptions. Besides interpreting my fieldwork experience and phenomenologically oriented findings, I wish to characterize the inherent paradox of past ethnographic practices.
Paper Abstract:
The paper offers a phenomenological understanding of agricultural work. Based on my own experience as a curator and on an ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Arieș valley of Transylvania, I focus on the situated, non-verbal, embodied knowledge surrounding plants and tools, the land and the machinery. I argue that within the logocentric and aesthetically oriented visual framework of morphological catalogues and abstracted ideal types, the experimental aspects of (post)peasant production have been omitted in the classical (Central-Eastern European) ethnological literature. Besides presenting a few insights of my fieldwork, I wish to interpret and contextualize this inherent paradox of the past ethnographic descriptions and museum practices.
Paper Short Abstract:
This presentation examines the embodiment of human-potato entanglements and how these expressions are reproduced over time. Analysis spans a long historical period, from the early days of potato cultivation in Finland in the late 18th century to contemporary practices such as traditional potato cultivation as an avocation. The presentation explores the nature of the coexistence and living with the potato and the various forms it has taken over time.
Paper Abstract:
In this presentation, I examine the embodiment of human-potato entanglements and how these expressions are reproduced over time. My analysis spans a long historical period, from the early days of potato cultivation in Finland in the late 18th century to contemporary practices such as traditional potato cultivation as an avocation. The presentation explores the nature of the coexistence and living with the potato and the various forms it has taken over time. Key themes include human control versus the demand for biodiversity, shifting societal values, and the intersections and tensions between personal and institutional relationships with the potato.
We often hold affective personal connections to potatoes, rooted in sensory experiences such as taste and texture. For many, home gardening of potatoes is a meaningful practice, and heirloom potato cultivation has become a popular activity in Finland today. At the same time, institutional demands - such as those driven by societal food security - place different expectations on the potato. My analysis draws on historical newspaper materials and literature, with contemporary insights informed by a survey conducted by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).
The presentation is based on work conducted by the multidisciplinary research group on living plant heritage at the University of Turku, focusing on potatoes in 2024. This research has been carried out in collaboration with Luke's MainPotRe project.
Paper Short Abstract:
Syria's Afrin region has long been famous for its agricultural produce, first and foremost olives. Relying on oral narratives about the past 50 years, the paper asks how agrarian skills and knowledge have been accumulated, circulated and transmitted across generations, and if and how this changed with the increasing accessibility of formalised education and agrarian institutions of Baathist Syria (agricultural colleges, agricultural extension offices, etc.). How did the encounters between different kinds of knowledge play out, how were they negotiated and translated into practice, and who were the relevant actors?
Paper Abstract:
Syria's Afrin region has long been famous for its agricultural produce, first and foremost olives. At the same time, the region has seen considerable social change: similar to dynamics in other rural regions of Baathist Syria, Afrin's villagers moved increasingly to the cities, notably nearby Aleppo, since the 1970s. Among other reasons, the pursuit of better educational opportunities was an important factor for this trend, as formalised education became and increasingly important and accessible means of upward social mobility for rural youth. As one of Syria's Kurdish regions, however, urbanisation and increasing formal education also entailed a strong linguistic shift, since Arabic (and not Kurdish) was the language of instruction and science. Urbanisation and the increasing numbers of formally educated youth led to marked intergenerational shifts, as urban-based youth often lacked practical knoweldge grounded in year-round involvement in agrarian tasks, but could potentially act as mediators of scientific, Arabic- or English-language-based information and resources. Relying on oral narratives about life in Afrin during the past 50 years, the paper maps how different forms of agricultural knowledge were negotiated, contested, and translated into practice. Who were the actors involved in such encounters? How were agrarian skills and knowledge accumulated, circulated and transmitted across generations between embodied and practical experiences, orally transmitted knowledge, and agrarian institutions of Baathist Syria (agricultural colleges, agricultural extension offices, etc.)? And what methodological means do we have to access these encounters and negotiations in retrospect, given the relative dearth of accessible written sources ?
Paper Short Abstract:
Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork among Polish farmers, I explore how farmers engage with knowledge from official sources and how for them knowledge only makes sense when applied in and coming from practice. My analysis focuses on both the political and cultural dimensions, highlighting how local agricultural knowledge is constructed.
Paper Abstract:
In this paper, I draw on my long-term ethnographic fieldwork among Polish farmers to explore how they engage with knowledge from 'outside' sources—more formal, often written ones such as books, schools, authorities, and experts. For farmers, knowledge only makes sense and holds value when applied in practice. It is considered unnecessary for those who do not make decisions, do not work, and therefore do not use it in their daily activities. In this context, farmers often speak about the impracticality of 'theoretical' knowledge—that is, knowledge that cannot be translated into concrete actions.
I will demonstrate how agricultural knowledge among farmers is typically multisourced, blending into a cohesive (or seemingly cohesive) and practical set, with social consulting playing a key role in this process. Additionally, I will elaborate on the 'ethos of self-learning,' which I observed frequently among farmers. In this ethos, a farmer tends to credit themselves for the knowledge they have accumulated over the years. Acknowledging external sources of knowledge is not regarded as prestigious; on the contrary, it may be seen as a sign of weakness or a lack of preparation to fulfill the role of a farmer.
In this context, the recent farmers’ protests across European countries present a fascinating phenomenon, where farmers’ attitudes toward 'practical' knowledge and their everyday innovative practices clash with the logic of European Union bureaucracy and its attempts to change agricultural practices.
Paper Short Abstract:
By exploring the interplay between traditional and innovative agrarian knowledge, the paper sheds light on how written and unwritten agricultural knowledge coexist and adapt in the shifting landscape of post-socialist agriculture. The case of the Swabian villages highlights how agricultural practices evolve through generational transitions, combining historical continuity with innovative responses to contemporary challenges.
Paper Abstract:
This presentation examines the parallel development and professionalization of industrial agriculture and an emerging group of innovative farmers over the past 30 years in the Swabian villages of the Satu Mare region, following the regime change. Unlike much of Romania, where the dissolution of collective farms led to the fragmentation and decline of agriculture, these villages retained certain elements of the collectivized system. These were reorganized into agricultural associations, which provided a stable and structured foundation for local agrarian economies.
The persistence of industrialized, large-scale grain production – rooted in the collectivist period – has remained a defining feature of the region’s agrarian practices. At the same time, alongside this formalized and professionalized model, an entrepreneurial group of innovative farmers emerged. This group adopted adaptive and often experimental farming methods, demonstrating a capacity for innovation in response to changing economic and global challenges. Notably, the relationship between these two models – industrial agriculture and innovative small-scale farming – is characterized more by coexistence than by competition or cooperation.
The presentation illustrates these dynamics through the example of a specific Swabian village, where the simultaneous presence of both farming approaches reflects broader patterns of agrarian change in post-socialist Romania, presented through the intensive use of non-written tools and methods.
Paper Short Abstract:
In order to create a more sustainable agricultural future, politics, industry and science are currently pushing the generation of knowledge about so-called alternative protein production. However, agricultural practitioners themselves remain largely excluded from this process, which in turn ties in with the problems of past hierarchical processes of agrarian development, in which farmers were primarily seen as recipients of knowledge.
Paper Abstract:
Current forms of intensified livestock farming are associated with numerous ecological, climatic and animal-ethical problems. A central challenge with regard to a change towards more sustainability and environmental relief within existing agricultural systems lies in the knowledge-based development of strategies for a more resource-efficient form of protein production. The planning of strategic decisions towards so-called alternative forms of protein production, such as in-vitro meat, insects, algae, legumes or mushrooms, is therefore now of great relevance and is largely driven by scientific and industrial research alliances. In this context, generating knowledge is being conducted at full speed on biotechnological solutions as well as on the economic and legal aspects of potential applications, while the opportunities and potential of these developments for existing agriculture itself have so far been barely examined. This approach, in turn, ties in with hierarchical processes of agrarian development that primarily view agricultural practitioners as recipients of knowledge. On the basis of current discourses on alternative protein production, the paper shows how scientific research associations and start-ups market themselves in superlatives for not needing farms or soil anymore to cultivate future food, while within large sections of agriculture this development is seen as a threat. In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past in the development of processes for more sustainable protein production, the article argues for a critical unwriting of hierarchical power dynamics in agricultural knowledge production and a much stronger and equal inclusion of farmers themselves to address questions about their future.
Paper Short Abstract:
Based on fieldwork research of techno-politics and agri-cultures in several industrial farming companies and cooperatives in the Central Bohemian Region, I seek to demonstrate multiple "fields of tension” between progressive technologies and local agricultural reason.
Paper Abstract:
Over the centuries, human activity has been oriented toward improving farming tools, cultivation techniques, and proto-agronomical schemes (e.g., Scott 2017). Technological progress brought by 20th Century High Modernism then enabled the rapid industrialization of farming. Recent decades have seen another unprecedented acceleration that went far beyond the invention of combine harvesters and tractors: industrial, conventional, or even ecological farming underwent changes initiated by so-called Precision Agriculture (henceforth PA, e.g., GPS, GIS, measuring local soil condition, fertilization, erosion risk, etc.).
The digital legibility of land, landscape, soil, forage, and harvest entails new impulses into the farmer's lives. Contemporary agro-technical research has shown that this "digital turn" has an ambiguous impact on farming. On the one hand, PA technologies have endowed the emerging "cyborg farmer" - a more-than-human assemblage of humans, crops, and complex technological vehicles - with advanced IT technologies devoted to adding new scales of digital care into an agricultural environment. On the other hand, such advanced cyborgization reveals extensive niches of technological exclusion and resistance of non-PA (or less cyborgized) farmers.
My research paper will examine these "growing" fields of tension. Based on participant observation in several industrial farming companies and cooperatives located at the edge of three Czech Republic regions I seek to demonstrate the multiplicities, disruptions, and continuities in technological practice and agricultural reason (Appadurai 2024). More precisely, I will explore the agri-ontologies with which farmers and corresponding agri-cultural entities are enacted and entangled through more-than-human techno-processes of cultivation, growth & decay (Hage 2021).
Paper Short Abstract:
This presentation proposes to explore how situated embodied experiences of research are transformed into written contents. It focuses on the case of sustainable cocoa agrarian development projects in San Martin, Perú and reveals the power relations at stake in the entanglements of research and developments projects and of natural and social sciences.
Paper Abstract:
How does an interaction becomes a data ? What are the trajectories between specific embodied lived experiences to a number, a letter, that may summarize this experience and allow it to be stored, transmited, exchanged until it becomes integrated as a pertinent data within the scope of a research ? What are the power relations at stake that enables the conservation and travel of data ?
By taking the examples of the entanglements of research and development networks around sustainable cocoa in San Martin, Peru, this article focuses on the emergence of written data in a participative sustainable development project on cocoa, next to conservation areas. The project was initatiated in 2021 while travels between continents were higly difficult and when digital technologies experienced a boom that impacted natural and social sciences research, as well as agrarian development project around cocoa and in general. The impediments of travel and the arising of digital technology drove to change participative methododology and higly relieved on data produced by intermediary persons on the « field », such as agronomists but also social scientists, influencing the circulation of information from and to cocoa farmers engaged in the project.
During this presentation, the analysis of the encounters of natural and social sciences within the entanglements of transnational development programs and research projects will reveal how embodied experiences take part in the creation of written contents in the context of cocoa value chain, a global value chain constructed on colonial relations.