Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences
Despite their key importance for ecosystems and societies, soils have long remained a peripheral topic in the human and social sciences. Our paper aims to account for the recent, fast-growing literature in human and social sciences on soils. We first highlight social sciences’ shared concern for uns...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Soil Security |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266700622200048X |
| _version_ | 1827991043816030208 |
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| author | Céline Granjou Germain Meulemans |
| author_facet | Céline Granjou Germain Meulemans |
| author_sort | Céline Granjou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite their key importance for ecosystems and societies, soils have long remained a peripheral topic in the human and social sciences. Our paper aims to account for the recent, fast-growing literature in human and social sciences on soils. We first highlight social sciences’ shared concern for unsettling common visions of soil as a surface, a background or a taken for granted stock of resources; then we show that the works at stake differ in terms of: (i) their linkage with soil science disciplines and fields, (ii) the social science theories they mobilise, (iii) their main contributions, and (iv) their approach to soil materialities and agencies. Following these criteria, we present three strands of research on soil-related issues: (1) Literature bearing on the politics of soil knowledge investigates how soil becomes an object of knowledge and management; (2) Soil new materialism addresses practices and ethics of caring for the living soil; (3) Soil decolonial studies unravel soils’ powers and the intertwined agencies of soils and societies. By examining these research agendas, we suggest that social and human thinkers have, in the past two decades, tended to shift from a focus on the socially constructed nature of soils, to a growing emphasis on soils’ own biophysical agency in shaping societies, also in line with soil sciences insights and works. We argue that the increasing uptake of soil in human and social sciences contributes to an increasing concern for achieving better theoretical and empirical accounts of the co-constitution of society and the material world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:44:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f329688c1e7c4a629b982c22ca45bf13 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-0062 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:44:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Soil Security |
| spelling | doaj.art-f329688c1e7c4a629b982c22ca45bf132023-03-14T04:09:07ZengElsevierSoil Security2667-00622023-03-0110100082Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciencesCéline Granjou0Germain Meulemans1Inrae Grenoble, Associate Researcher at Inrae ETTIS - Bordeaux, Research director at INRAE Lessem - Univ. Grenoble Alps, 2 rue de la Papeterie BP 76, Lisis - Paris Marne la Vallée, Saint Martin d'Hères 38 400, France; Corresponding author.Research fellow at CNRS, Centre Alexandre Koyré, Paris, FranceDespite their key importance for ecosystems and societies, soils have long remained a peripheral topic in the human and social sciences. Our paper aims to account for the recent, fast-growing literature in human and social sciences on soils. We first highlight social sciences’ shared concern for unsettling common visions of soil as a surface, a background or a taken for granted stock of resources; then we show that the works at stake differ in terms of: (i) their linkage with soil science disciplines and fields, (ii) the social science theories they mobilise, (iii) their main contributions, and (iv) their approach to soil materialities and agencies. Following these criteria, we present three strands of research on soil-related issues: (1) Literature bearing on the politics of soil knowledge investigates how soil becomes an object of knowledge and management; (2) Soil new materialism addresses practices and ethics of caring for the living soil; (3) Soil decolonial studies unravel soils’ powers and the intertwined agencies of soils and societies. By examining these research agendas, we suggest that social and human thinkers have, in the past two decades, tended to shift from a focus on the socially constructed nature of soils, to a growing emphasis on soils’ own biophysical agency in shaping societies, also in line with soil sciences insights and works. We argue that the increasing uptake of soil in human and social sciences contributes to an increasing concern for achieving better theoretical and empirical accounts of the co-constitution of society and the material world.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266700622200048XSocial sciencesSoil knowledgeSoil lifeMaterialitySoil/society relations |
| spellingShingle | Céline Granjou Germain Meulemans Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences Soil Security Social sciences Soil knowledge Soil life Materiality Soil/society relations |
| title | Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences |
| title_full | Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences |
| title_fullStr | Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences |
| title_short | Bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences |
| title_sort | bringing soils to life in the human and social sciences |
| topic | Social sciences Soil knowledge Soil life Materiality Soil/society relations |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266700622200048X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT celinegranjou bringingsoilstolifeinthehumanandsocialsciences AT germainmeulemans bringingsoilstolifeinthehumanandsocialsciences |