The Earth We Tread: Learning Land beyond Extraction
İnci Nazlıcan Sağırbaş, Marina Resende Santos
When we hear the word 'land,' we might think of real estate to buy, soil to farm, or landscapes to wander. In cities, land also shapes our environment in many ways: it encompasses national belonging, homes near and far, borders, and citizenship lines, as well as the struggle for capital linked to space and the soil itself. The Earth We Tread is dedicated to learning different ways to see, represent, and act on land beyond extraction. The presentation will introduce the guiding themes of TEWT and preliminary results of our discussions, guided walks, exercises, and workshops we conducted within the seminar and alongside it. Beginning in summer 2025, we have applied diverse methods including counter-cartography, walking, artistic and design research to understand and intervene in ecopolitical sites in Berlin. On a broader level, we are searching for new ways to relate to the land that blurs the established boundaries of linear progress used to justify subjugation by sustaining dichotomies such as human/non-human, nature/culture, and urban/rural. Drawing from the idea of the commoning, diverse cosmologies, counter-cartographies, and insurgent practices, we are attempting to cut across institutional, planned, and controlled borders, territories, and divisions of land in search of the continual production of space on the ground. Together with our participants, we intend to present the research developed by two groups introducing their works, showing a range of methods and perspectives that are enriched by the participants’ different backgrounds. This semester’s works point to how citizens produce space, build community, and sustain solidarity in Berlin, post-economic landscapes where different human and non-human agents get to play, and spaces where food or cultural programming index belonging and difference in a cosmopolitan city. This presentation is a reflection on the interdisciplinary and creative methodologies we have employed based on playful applications of theory to our daily experiences, our environment, and our changing understanding of the land.