Paper short abstract:

I investigate subsistence farming as a lifestyle choice in contemporary post-industrial societies. The commons (natural, social, cultural) contribute significantly to their well-being, as well as their economic subsistence, somewhat contradicting their lifestyle beyond the mainstream.

Paper long abstract:

In my ongoing ethnographic research I investigate subsistence farming as a lifestyle choice in contemporary post-industrial societies: the voluntary lifestyles of self-provisioning, or production for consumption, in particular of foodstuffs and other natural resources. This research is based on participant observation, interviews, and the analysis of autobiographic texts written by subsistence farmers, investigating the agents of this trend, their motivations, and their multiple strategies of subsistence. First results demonstrate that the commons (not only natural, but also the social, as well as cultural or knowledge commons) contribute significantly to their social well-being, as well as their economic subsistence. Natural commons are the basis of much of their food production, from seeds to gathering wild foods, hunting, fishing and trapping. But subsistence farmers also draw on, as well as distribute, cultural and knowledge commons - also known as "traditional knowledge" or "cultural heritage". On their farms they increasingly offer seminars and workshops on various topics, from how to forage for food, to how to weave a wicker baskets or how to use a scythe. For many subsistence farmers the commons are therefore not only a significant resource for their immediate subsistence but also for their economic strategies, maybe somewhat contradicting their lifestyle beyond the mainstream.

Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the contemporary home production of dairy products examining it both as a practice of self-sufficiency and as commercial goods, often selled informally to the consumers. The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork and case studies from Western Bulgaria and Eastern Serbia.

Paper long abstract:

The production of dairy products (yogurt, cheese, kashkaval etc.) was a traditional activity in the rural homes on the Balkans. Emergence of large-scale dairy plants during the socialist period in some of the Balkan states gradually replaced the small-scale commercial dairies from the previous period and destroyed the knowledge and practices of making home-made dairy products for family use. The proposed paper, however, focuses on the transition period toward market-driven economy, started in the 1990s. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork examining cases from Western Bulgaria and Eastern Serbia.

The free market economy stimulates private enterprises and food's production decentralization and diversification, but the studied period is also characterized by a deep economical crisis and emerging distrust in the quality of industrial produced food. In the late 1990s and early 2000s home-made dairy products make a remarkable come-back both in the countryside and larger towns. It is an economic reaction to the rising prices - the practice of home self-sufficiency becomes an important strategy for subsistence. Many rural families also see a possibility for additional income selling yogurt and cheese often on street stands directly in front of their homes. Simultaneously, the bloom of home-made dairy products is also a mark of consumers' criticism: they are considered cheaper and of better quality than the industrial mass products. The emergence of eco-orientation after the middle of the 2000s strengthens these preferences. What motivates the urban consumers purchase home-made dairy products is already their assumption that they are more delicious, healthier, and fresher.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the significance of the rural household and household based gardening in sustaining and creating persons and families among the Kairak Baining of Papua New Guinea. I also examine the effects of commercial oil palm agriculture on Kairak kinship relations and social organisation.

Paper long abstract:

The Kairak Baining of Papua New Guinea are a rural community, living in the inland mountainous region of East New Britain. Similar to many Papua New Guinean societies, gardening among the Kairak plays important role in people's daily lives. In this paper, I examine the Kairak nuclear household as the basic unit of production and consumption, and household based gardening as a significant component in creating and sustaining persons and families. I argue that 1) through household gardening nuclear family members "feed" and "grow" each other, and 2) through reciprocal gardening assistance among households, people make relations within the hamlet, and establish themselves as part of a family and larger kin groups. Gardening, thus, creates and maintain relations between households, and mediates kinship, defining both cognatic and affine relations. In recent years, however, much of the Kairak land has been leased for an oil palm development project, which has significantly affected the rural communities. Plantation jobs have become more than just an opportunity, but a necessity due to lack of gardening land near the rural settlements. As a result, new forms of inter-household relations and circulation of wealth among kin groups have emerged. By examining the effects of commercial oil palm agriculture, in contrast to household based gardening, the ways in which people have adapted to these changes, and their role in making persons, families, and 'Kairak clan' identity; the paper offers significant contribution to more general understandings about work and kinship, traditional and alternative rural livelihoods, and community identity.

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on participant observations on two family farms in Western Czech Republic, the paper explores the cultural logics and social dynamics of the eventization of farming in a peripheralized rural region.

Paper long abstract:

In the recent years, the commodification of rurality has become one of the core forces of rural change in remote rural areas across Europe. Fostered by EU and national subsidies and embedded in the logics of aesthetical capitalism and neo-liberalism, we can witness the expansion of agricultural and rural cultural heritage tourism, the growing demand for 'authentic' food with a provenance as well as the (re-)invention of rural traditions and events. These developments transform everyday-life, livelihood-strategies, local identities and the distribution of power within and across rural communities.

The papers takes the case of two recently established ecological family farms in Western Czech Republic, which combine agricultural production with educational programs for children and farm-volunteers in a rural region, which is just recently and on a very small scale being 'discovered' by tourists.

Drawing on ethnographic interviews and participant observations the paper explores the entanglements of work and life on small scale agricultural holdings which (besides producing food) become sites of educational events, offering 'authentic' rural experiences to visitors. The analysis considers the field of every-day management, subsistence and income production, mobility, knowledge production, urban-rural relations and gender roles. It also asks how the social position and self-perception of farmers change when they extend their activities to producing rural experiences.