Land in transition: the role of land for Finnish households striving for self-sufficiency

Abstract

This short essay is based on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork that focuses on post-growth work in the global North. Some of the people I have met during my fieldwork are in the process of altering their life according to their understanding of more affirmative ways of living. Here the focus is on households that strive for self-sufficiency in terms of food. However, in order to cultivate land, one needs to access it. This essay focuses on describing self-sufficiency households’ everyday needs for private land ownership and its implications for the households. It seems to be hard to completely rid oneself of owning land because of the institutional arrangements beyond one’s immediate influence. For discussions concerning transitions toward more sustainable societies, projects exploring other ways of organising land ownership are important.