Paper short abstract:

I am going to investigate the meanings, politics and economics of nature in the allotment gardens of Nowa Huta under socialism. I am going to base the paper on extensive fieldwork with the original, eldest allotment gardeners.

Paper long abstract:

Nowa Huta was built as a model industrial, working-class factory town of the Lenin Steelworks in post-war Poland. Under state socialism, local workplaces founded 30 allotment gardens there. They organised and divided the land and distributed the plots among its workers. The allotments were lent to them free of charge as a form of subsistence support. The gardeneers built altany (small garden houses), cultivated plants and bred animals there, for both their own consumption and an additional income.

In the paper, I am going to investigate the meanings, politics and economies of nature in the allotment gardens in Nowa Huta. Firstly, I am going to study peasant identities, agrarian knowledge and rural practices of the gardeners, almost all of whom came to Nowa Huta from the countryside. Secondly, I am going to conceptualise the relationship between the gardens and the Steelworks as interconnected commons. Thirdly, I am going to describe the practices, discourses and concepts of the allotment gardeners which relate to nature.

I am going to base the paper on material collected during nine months of fieldwork in Nowa Huta. Within its framework, I am interviewing, working, resting and socialising with and learning from the eldest, original allotment gerdeners and retired steelworkers. I am also conducting archival research of the boards of the gardens. I am learning about the socialist past by studying continuity and change in the material, bodily, affective and discursive cultures of the allotment gardens.