On Digital Clutter: Understanding Our Relationship with the New Cloud of Unknowing - Liana Gheorghiu
In today’s digital age, cloud storage has become increasingly prevalent, fundamentally altering how we manage and interact with data ownership. While corporate entities have traditionally relied on cloud storage for large-scale data management, personal data storage has recently migrated to the cloud, emerging as a primary means of storing various virtual assets. This shift towards personal cloud storage reflects a broader cultural trend towards digitalization and convenience. However, it also underscores the challenges of digital clutter and data accumulation on a personal level. Through interviews and observation, this research delves into the reasons behind our tendencies to continuously accumulate digital assets and explores their ecological consequences. Emotional attachments and subscription plans emerge as significant drivers of digital clutter. Furthermore, amidst the unsettling trend of corporate dominance over data, the article advocates for a more conscientious and sustainable approach to managing digital possessions. Drawing on diverse theories and environmental discourse, it emphasizes the importance of striking a balance between personal convenience and ecological responsibility.Article by Liana Gheorghiu, illustrated by Andreea Moisehttps://theanthro.art/on-digital-clutter-understanding-our-relationship-with-the-new-cloud-of-unknowing-liana-gheorghiu-illustration-by-andreea-moise/
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An anthropology of gestures: shifting narratives about sustainability in textile crafts through the lens of metaphor theory - Ruxandra Lupu
There is almost a poetic appeal to crafts that render them timeless. Crafts such as textiles maintain continuity, in contrast to trends, like fashion. Textile practice provides thus established codes for interpreting local culture. In doing so, they inhabit their environment in a caring and conscious way. That’s why it should come as no surprise that craftspeople think differently about sustainability than designers or managers. Their practices are deeply embedded in the territory and strongly connected to aspects of place, materiality and social context. At the same time, a large part of this knowledge about sustainability is tacit – this means it can be hardly articulated using language. It is rather embedded in gestures of working with and through materials, aspects which are difficult to understand, measure and capture. So, what can we learn about sustainability from craftspeople using the lens of gestures? In my project, I take up the challenge of exploring this further by adopting metaphor theory as an entry point into better understanding and capturing textile artisans’ vision of sustainability, in order to elicit and communicate it in a comprehensive way to audiences. Conceptual metaphor theory is the field that looks at how we understand abstract concepts using metaphors. To do this, I set up an interdisciplinary method that borrows methods from linguistics, dance theory and ethnography to map metaphoric gestures of textile artisans across Europe. My field research (March-July 2024) includes case studies in my home country, Romania, but also other European countries. Expected results are both theoretical/conceptual (novel interdisciplinary framework for mapping gestures) as well as applied (a final exhibition of the textile designers’ work using collected data to present them in an immersive and comprehensible way to the public).Article by Ruxandra Lupu, illustrated by Dariana Iliehttps://theanthro.art/an-anthropology-of-gestures-shifting-narratives-about-sustainability-in-textile-crafts-through-the-lens-of-metaphor-theory/
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One drop at a time: On waiting for water in rural Moldova - Olga Bostan
The role of water in rural Moldova transcends its physical properties as a vital substance to become a poignant reflection of the broader socio-economic, political, and environmental dynamics at play in post-Soviet rural life. Against a backdrop of historical disinvestment, both during the Soviet times and in their aftermath, the article explores the ways in which residents of a village in the north of Moldova navigate water insecurity. Through a delicate balance of waiting for official intervention from the local administration and resorting to self-reliant strategies, they meet their everyday water needs with resourcefulness and endurance. When the village hall launched the construction of an infrastructural initiative that would provide access to piped water to every household in the village, the promise of a long-term solution to the problem imbued locals with hope. However, when the construction work was put on pause, villagers found themselves suspended between the all-too-familiar struggles of fulfilling their daily water needs and the collective imaginary of a better future. While they wait for water to reach their taps, they resort to creative bricolages such as makeshift pumps and rainwater collection barrels. Yet, amidst these adaptive measures lies a pervasive sense of uncertainty, perpetuated by the rumours and hearsay that surround the stalled water project. These narratives not only serve as coping mechanisms but also fuel collective demands for accountability and transparency from local authorities.Article by Olga Bostan, illustrated by Amandine Bănescuhttps://theanthro.art/one-drop-at-a-time-on-waiting-for-water-in-rural-moldova/
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Under the Radar: Shedding Light on Local Land Grabs - Hestia Delibas
Land grabbing is a widely talked-about subject in political debates yet at the same time little understood in the context of Eastern Europe. Seeking to shed light on this complex issue, my research delved into the mechanisms of land grabbing while also uncovering forms of peasant resistance. During the summer of 2023, I did my fieldwork in the nearby villages of Huedin, Romania, where I engaged in participant observations at local peasant markets and I conducted interviews with a diverse array of people, including peasants, advocates for food sovereignty, and municipal authorities. At the heart of my investigation lies the notion of environmental justice. My fieldwork revealed that land grabbing is perceived as a form of injustice, with many of the interviews pointing to abuses of power, and elusive forms of violence that facilitate land grabbing. Another important insight of my fieldwork pertains to the role of traditional commons in resisting land grabbing, alongside the emergence of innovative initiatives like ALPA – Access to Land, which employs the concept of land banks to secure access to land for the next generation of young peasants.Article by Hestia Delibas, illustrated by Diana Branzanhttps://theanthro.art/under-the-radar-shedding-light-on-local-land-grabs/
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„Forbidden” sustainability. The case of an ecological restoration project in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve - Ioana Savin
It is often remarked that the Danube Delta is so captivating that those who visit once are inevitably drawn to return (Fănuș Neagu – writer, 1963). If this holds true, a similar sentiment can be extended to the village of Sfiștofca. For me, the history of Sfiștofca serves as a compelling illustration of how sustainable traditional practices thrive solely within the natural environment that surrounds a community. Guided by profound practical knowledge and a distinct “territorial identity” (Mihăilescu, Nahorniac), Sfiștofca emerges as an exemplary socio-ecological relationship, wherein villagers possess the autonomy to steward their local natural resources. However, when changes in the structure and ownership of their natural surroundings occur, the village embarks on a path of decline.Article by Ioana Savin, illustrated by Erika Nagyhttps://theanthro.art/forbbiden-sustainability-the-case-of-an-ecological-restoration-project-in-the-danube-delta-biosphere-reserve/
AnthroArt – Action for People and Planet is an initiative of three applied anthropology organisations – Antropedia, Namla and Ambigrama – that aims to create an international platform for connecting anthropology and art, with the purpose of deepening awareness about inequality and our relation with the environment and driving change across three geographies: Romania, The Netherlands and Portugal, as well as beyond.
Brasil