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Contribution short abstract:

We will bring ideas about an oral history collection of agroecological farmers which should record not only the farmer but also the non-human surroundings. It is intended as a digital collection, a kind of virtual compost heap, offering new ways to shape the present and future of farming.

Contribution long abstract:

Given common points of research on agroecology and influenced by anthropological, geographical, historical, and psychological perspectives, we will bring ideas about an oral history collection of agroecological farmers. The ideas, practices, and experiences of these farmers are embodied and preserved in themselves - in many cases they are the only medium to tell their story to posterity, as often no written legacy of these agroecological activities remains available.

This oral history collection would not be written but spoken. It should ideally be recorded by video rather than only in audio format and, if possible, include the cultivated land. Thereby, not only the farmer but also the non-human surroundings can be captured which is a factor often missing in traditional oral history archives.

We have an interest in seeing how such an effort can link farmers, researchers, policy advisors, and a public that wishes to have greater access to histories of agrarian transformation and often resistance. This collection may serve as a living memory, functioning as a type of “Erinnerungs-agri-kultur” to support the objectives of a political agroecology. As a digital collection, it resembles a virtual compost heap, offering new ways to shape the present and future through a mix of human and non-human experiences of the past.