AquaNaturesCultures – Still water economies in the Anthropocene

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Laura McAdam-Otto
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 545621262

In the Anthropocene, still water economies face both threats and transformative adaptations. While environmental changes challenge traditional practice, they are also inspiring innovative approaches. By concentrating on these dynamics, which have received insufficient attention in anthropology and related fields, one gains a deeper insight into the future of agriculture. This project, with its four sub-projects, examines the dynamics affecting longstanding practices and emerging innovative applications of producing with and in still water economies. It locates these dynamics in Bavaria, the leading state in Germany for still water economies, offering specific challenges and experimental practices to explore. The four sub-projects deal with lake fishing and pond farming, which are exemplary of longstanding practices of producing with and in still waters as well as algae cultivation and aquaponics as emergent still water economies. At its core, the project theoretically and empirically develops the concept of AquaNatureCultures, taking our knowledge about still water economies and what producing in and with these waters in the Anthropocene means to new planes, contributing to make the future of agriculture more tangible. The project uniquely combines the anthropology of water, rural anthropology, multi-species ethnography, and NaturesCultures approaches. Methodologically, it employs ethnographic fieldwork, which centers around farmers, heterogenous actors in the fishing industry, and other human and non-human actors. The project addresses the following questions: What are the current challenges for still water economies? How are they addressed? What new methods and ecosystems are emerging? Which practices are no longer sustainable? How are rurality and agricultural production practiced in the Anthropocene with and in still waters? How do the contact zones between different species change? Which new species emerge in still water economies in the Anthropocene? Through its innovative methodological, multi-species perspective, actor-centered focus, and theoretical framework, the project underscores the significance of anthropological ethnographic research to explore the world we all live in, promoting interdisciplinary and public discussions about the future of agriculture. The project’s outcomes will be relevant for practitioners in still water economies, policy makers, the broader public and scholarly realm in biology, agricultural sciences, and related social sciences, impacting future studies in these fields. With its innovative design, the project develops and clarifies (further) research questions in close collaboration with cooperation partners. In the context of worldwide degradation of still waters and their rise in importance of food supply, the findings are particularly significant beyond the local boundaries of the study to the global social-ecological transformations in the 21st century.

• DFG Programme: Emmy Noether Independent Junior Research Groups