Harnessing the Unruly: Anthropological Contributions in Applied Reuse Projects

• This article discusses the experiences of two anthropologists working on two applied collaborative projects, both with a focus on sustainable consumption, and both spin-offs from a more conventional academic research project on second-hand and reuse. Although different – one focusing on the reuse of office furniture in the public sector, the other on co-creating an exhibition at a state-run museum – both entailed interventions aiming to stimulate a transition to less damaging ways of living and consuming. Collaborating with a municipality, a state-run museum and a reuse design company, as well as various professional stakeholders in the sector, the anthropologists outline how being ‘unruly’ – probing deeper into seemingly self-evident questions, recontextualising issues, and making associations between domains – allowed them to provide new perspectives and formulate alternative understandings of how to meet the challenges. The main contributions of anthropology in applied settings are often said to be the methodological tools and techniques of the discipline, but in this case, insights from posthumanism significantly shaped the outcomes of the two projects. The authors argue that abstract theoretical insights can play an important role in providing solutions or understandings in concrete, applied situations.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

sustainable consumption

applied anthropology

collaboration

reuse

circular economy

posthumanism

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)