Kristina M. Lyons presents an ethnography of human-soil relations in which she follows state soil scientists and peasant farmers in Colombia's Putumayo region, showing how their relationship with soil is key to caring for the forest and growing non-illicit crops in the face of v…
"VITAL DECOMPOSITION is an experimental ethnography of soil-- not only as object, but as subject and collaborator-- set in southern Colombia, particularly in the Amazonian state of Putumayo. Kristina Lyons theorizes the relationships between life and death and between materialit…
Introduction. Life in the midst of poison -- From aerial spaces to litter layers -- The theater of life is also a stage of death -- Partial alliances among minor practices warning : highly toxic experiments -- Decomposition as life politics border crossing -- Resonating farms an…
In Colombia, decades of social and armed conflict and the US-led war on drugs have created a seemingly untenable situation for scientists and rural communities as they attempt to care for forests and grow non-illicit crops. In Vital Decomposition Kristina M. Lyons presents an et…
"VITAL DECOMPOSITION is an experimental ethnography of soil-- not only as object, but as subject and collaborator-- set in southern Colombia, particularly in the Amazonian state of Putumayo. Kristina Lyons theorizes the relationships between life and death and between materialit…