Pilsen Garbage Project
PIs: Daniel Sosna, Pilsen, CZ, and David Henig, CSAC, Kent. Funder: Czech Science Foundation
We are interested in the relationship between humans and their waste. We see great potential in studies of various kinds of waste in its social context to elucidate who we - humans - really are. Humans produce waste through their action. In doing so, they follow unconscious patterns of thinking and doing embedded in habitual practices. They can also improvise and intentionally shape their practices related to rubbish to conceal things that should not bee seen or signal to others ideologies built upon the ideas of reuse and sustainability.
In addition to the enrichment of theoretical perspectives on waste, we attempt to develop efficient and reliable methodological tools for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Therefore, we attempt to apply various approaches including detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses of garbage, ethnography, questionnaire surveys, and spatial analyses to triangulate our findings. Also, we experiment with technological innovations such as direct digitization of textual, visual, and audio data in the field using tablet computers and relational databases, software for qualitative data analysis, and geographic information systems for spatial analysis.