Att gräva där man står - en etnologisk studie om upplevelser av landsbygdsbaserad självhushållning

Sammanfattning: This paper explores the process of transitioning to a rural, self-sustainable lifestyle in terms of ecological sustainability and geographical place, while focusing on how these concepts serve to motivate change and create a sense of purpose. It further analyzes how aspects of structural power may facilitate or impede the transition into self-sufficiency. The study consists of ethnographically gathered material of which five comprehensive interviews constitute the foundation. The interviewees were at the time in an early stage of transitioning to a self-sustainable lifestyle. Additional data used in the study consists of observations and notes taken by the researcher in connection the interviews. The theories used to analyze this material are the phenomenological ideas of “lifeworld” and “place”, as well as Bourdieu’s theories of capital and habitus. The result points to the importance of place. The various dimensions of the place’s influence over the lifeworld and the interaction which shapes the relationship between man and place enhances the interviewees’ sense of connection to and purpose within the place. Furthermore, the report shows that the key to unlock, utilize and wholly make a place available in different ways is formed through the way capital interacts with habitus and physical experiences. Finally, the result indicate that the act of turning ideas and beliefs regarding various aspects of environmental awareness into self-sustaining ways of living can reward the interviewees with feelings of purpose in everyday life. This manifests itself through a sense of coherence between one’s ideals and actions, as well as through the satisfaction of retaining green, cultural capital. Elevated feelings of purposefulness and strengthened conviction might also spawn from the act of embodying ideas that earlier existed only in a mental state.