The International Union of Soil Sciences Cultural Patterns Working Group: A New Means to Explore Links between Soils and Society.

A new working group on Cultural Patterns of Soil Understanding has been formed in the International Union of Soil Sciences Division 4. This working group seeks to identify some basic human patterns in understanding soil. For that, soil science has to open itself for perspectives offered by the humanities and social sciences, by fine arts and psychology. Combining approaches from fields long viewed as disconnected and unrelated can in fact lead to advances through transdisciplinary studies. A set of seven areas of study have been identified to expand upon. Those are: 1) EMBEDDED SOIL – how is soil part of broader concepts of nature? 2) REFLECTION OF SCIENCE – investigating soil science as a cultural phenomenon, such as how we frame the value we attach to soil. 3) RELIGIONS AND SOIL – religious and spiritual traditions and experiences and their implications for soil understanding. 4) SOIL ART – including historical and contemporary portrayal of soils in art as well as the use of soil and/or soil materials to create art. 5) SOIL CULTURE ARCHAEOLOGY/ETHNOPEDOLOGY – the importance of soil to indigenous people. 6) SOIL EDUCATION – the function of soil education to foster or change cultural understanding of soil. 7) SOIL PSYCHOLOGY – analytic investigations into what drives our understanding of soil, on both the individual and cultural level. The working group will seek to investigate these issues by providing a forum for individuals with an interest in soils and culture to network, organizing sessions at appropriate professional meetings, and producing an IUSS-book for publication in 2019. People interested in the working group are encouraged to contact Nikola Patzel (chair) or Eric Brevik (vice chair).