Cultural Understanding of Soils

A. Introduction to Cultural Soil Dimensions.- 1.  Which soil and which cultural approach? All editors, in preparation.- B. World Cultures: Religious, Spiritual and Other Worldviews on Soils.- 2. Cultural patterns of soil cultivation in Europe (3 parts) Nikola Patzel. Chapters in revision.- 2.1 Polytheistic context.- 2.2 Monotheistic context.- 2.3 Scientific context, and organic notions.- 3. Soil in the shamanism mythology and rituals in Northern Eurasia Pavel Krasilnikov. Completed.- 4. From Native American tradition to modern day America, Native origin legends that involve soil and Earth Jeffrey Homburg, Sabine Grunwald, and Eric Brevik. (Sample chapter available below).- 5. The Dogon: The creation of consciousness through agriculture Eva Wertenschlag-Birkhäuser. Completed.- 6. The Yoruba pedosphere: The tale of Onilé Guilherme Sobrinho and Nilton Silva. In revision.- 7. Importance of soil in Islam, a study based on statements in the Quran Mohsen Makki and Jérôme Juilleret. In revision.- 8. Soil in Rumi's thoughts Seyed Kazem Alavipanah, Jafar Jafarzadeh, and Kolsoum Ghazanfari. In revision.- 9. Cultural understanding of soil in China Sylvia Xiaorui Wen. Completed.- 10. Cultural understanding of soil from a Japanese perspective Hideaki Hirai and Katsuyuki Minami. Completed.- 11. Ecosattvas and Ecodharma - Modern Buddhist perspectives of soil and the environment Sabine Grunwald. Completed.- 12.Technosol cultures: New cultural understandings of urban soils Germain Meulemans. Completed.- C. Politics on Soil.- 13. Sacred soil, divine labor: Economic theology and the agrarian political in Eastern India Milinda Banerjee. In revision.- 14. A deity we belong to or a property to own? Land & people relations in Buryat communities of the Sayan mountains Tatiana Intigrinova. Completed.- D. Case Studies on the Inner Soil of Individual

Dr. Nikola Patzel got degrees in environmental science, depth psychology, and received his doctorate in 2002 at the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) for research on "Soil Science and the Unconscious". After 10 years of research on that, he published in 2015 a book on "Symbols in Agriculture". He works in research and consulting on nature relationships and soil communication, and gives courses on soil for farmers, which integrate scientific, cultural, and psychological aspects. Patzel chairs the working group on "Cultural Patterns of Soil Understanding" in the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) and is head of Commission VIII "Soil in Education and Society" at the German Soil Science Society (DBG).

 

Dr. Eric Brevik is the Dean of the College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has also taught courses in geology and soil science at Dickinson State University (DSU) and Valdosta State University, coordinated the DSU Environmental Science degree program, and advised student research. Dr. Brevik's research interests include combining information from soil science and geology, soil genesis, and the impact of humans on soil properties and processes, as well as soil science history, education, and links between soil science and culture. He is an active member of the European Geoscience Union, International Union of Soil Sciences, and Soil Science Society of America.

 

Dr. Sabine Grunwald earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Giessen University, Germany and is Professor in the Soil, Water and Ecosystem Science Department at the University of Florida (UF), Gainesville, Florida, USA. She has research expertise in soil-ecosystem modeling, AI machine learning and deep learning, soil carbon quantification and modeling, pedometrics, digital soil mapping, soil health, soil proximal sensing and remote sensing, environmental quality assessment, and