| Title | Unit 1: Soil as Substrate |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Cynthia Browne (author) |
| Johannes Lehmann (author) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.63308/63897247289532.unit1 |
| Landing page | https://www.whpress.co.uk/publications/2025/11/05/graspingsoil/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Cynthia Browne and Johannes Lehmann |
| Publisher | The White Horse Press |
| Published on | 2026-03-01 |
| Long abstract | In this unit, we approach soil as an active material that contributes to compos- ing (and decomposing!) our lifeworlds. Doing so asks us to consider how the composition of soil is linked to flows of energy and materials and dynamically intertwined with perception and response of various living and non-living processes. We borrow Tim Ingold’s notion of the ‘ecology of material’ to help us think through soil as ‘matter that is always already historical’ and how its mate- rial properties become a matter of concern for present communities and future generations. This unit seeks to answer these questions through 1) introductory overview to the material composition of soil and its relation to use; 2) a review of the ‘metabolic’ turn in soil studies; and 3) an exercise to think through the composition of soil as a form of material memory that shapes future growth. See the source list at the end of the syllabus for full details of suggested reading and viewing materials. |
| Page range | pp. 29–38 |
| Print length | 10 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Media | 5 illustrations |
Cynthia Browne is a Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science, where she currently leads the working group ‘Troubling Exposure’. The group, as well as Browne’s research, examines exposure as a documentary practice that has been foundational to certain forms of environmental knowledge, as well as integral to counter-documentary practices that work to disclose how trajectories of environmental exposure intersect with legacies and infrastructures of colonialism and racial privilege.
Johannes Lehmann is the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry at Cornell University. His research focuses on nano-scale investigations of soil organic matter, the biogeochemistry of pyrogenic carbon, sustainable soil management, climate change, biochar systems and the circular economy. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), and serves as Associate Editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.