Rethinking Landscapes – ecological relations in more than human collectives as a way to think about the Anthropocene - João T. Amieira
Description
Food systems can be a valuable tool to think about biodiversity as inherently interconnected with our human worlds, in practices that look towards the sustainability of ecosystems, rather than based in the logic of extracting resources without caring for the degradation of landscapes. Through an ethnographic looking glass, we can understand the ways in which certain food production systems can in fact help us think and act on the current socio- ecological crisis. This article draws from fieldwork among agro-pastoralists in the northeastern region of Portugal, done during September 2023, and January 2024. Based on a mix methods approach, the fieldwork’s main method was walking with shepherds of indigenous sheep and goat’s species along their daily grazing paths, allowing informal conversations to happen based in an ethnographic inquiry into the human-environmental relations. The perspectives brought form this experience are of enormous value as they point to possible avenues for change in face of land degradation, biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change.
Article by Silvia Raposo, illustrated by Joana Cruz
United States
