Soil Fictions: Addressing Urban Soils between Art, Soil Ecology, and Anthropology

Abstract

Th is paper examines how artistic collaborations between anthropologists and natural scientists can help address challenges that themes relating to the Anthro- pocene and more than human realities pose to academic disciplines. It draws on a one- year collaboration among two anthropologists, two artists, a soil ecologist, and a geographer working toward an exhibition on the heavily anthropogenic soils of cities. Th e preparation of speculative Soil Fictions— narrative installations shown in the exhibition— allowed experimenting with new modes of inquiry that proved com- plementary to more traditional ethnographic methods. Th e authors argue in favor of wider recognition of such experiments within anthropology.