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The Distance from Necessity: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Gathering Practices in Vermont

Pierce, Alan Robert
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1389639040

Abstract Details

2014, Ph.D., Antioch University, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies.
This study examines why contemporary Americans continue to gather wild plants and fungi. Vermont, a state with a rich history of gathering, serves as a study site. I interviewed twenty-four gatherers using ethnographic methods. I applied a Bourdieusian framework to analyze the differences between gathering practices as they related to gathering knowledge, views of nature, and uses of gathered products. The interviews indicated that gathering is important to the physical and mental well-being of its practitioners and instills a connection to nature as well as to place. Interviewees cited spending time in nature and enjoyment of engaging the senses as the primary reasons for gathering. Other reasons identified included strengthening social bonds, obtaining food, medicine or income, and enjoying the “treasure hunt” aspect of gathering. Differences in gathering practices are attributable to habitus and background. Interviewees from agrarian backgrounds primarily learned their gathering skills from friends or relatives, rarely used scientific names of plants or fungi, often equated gathering with work, and tended to view gathered products as economic capital. By contrast, interviewees from suburban and urban backgrounds mostly learned their gathering skills through classes or books, exhibited greater familiarity with scientific names of species, saw gathering as a leisure activity, and were more apt to use gathered products as social and symbolic capital. Vermont is transitioning from an agrarian-based economy to a mixed-economy, and in the process, the working landscape is being replaced by a landscape of leisure. Gathering as an agrarian practice is being supplanted by gathering as an epicurean-oriented practice, and heralds a subtle shift in human-nature interactions. Policy makers need to account for such shifts and demonstrate greater nuance in regulating gathering, particularly non-commercial gathering. My research also suggests that trends to professionalize gathering are on the rise, a finding that could result in the exclusion of gatherers from resources or markets.
Alesia Maltz, PhD (Committee Chair)
James Jordan, PhD (Committee Member)
Marla Emery, PhD (Committee Member)
220 p.
Environmental Studies; Forestry; Sociology
gathering; non-timber forest products; NTFPs; Pierre Bordieu; practice; capital; Vermont; foraging; foragers; gatherers; wild edibles; New England; ethnography; thematic analysis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pierce, A. R. (2014). The Distance from Necessity: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Gathering Practices in Vermont [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1389639040

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pierce, Alan. The Distance from Necessity: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Gathering Practices in Vermont. 2014. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1389639040.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pierce, Alan. "The Distance from Necessity: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Gathering Practices in Vermont." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1389639040

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1389639040
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.