12/03/2025 - Lit Review; Matters of Care from Maria Puig de la Bellacasa

12th March 2025

Research: Soil Care, a Literature Review

Matters of Care was explored through the chapter “Soil Time: The Pace of Ecological Care,” which drew my interest due to Maria Puig de la Bellacasa’s approach to soil as more than a passive nonhuman material. Instead, she presents soil as a material agency and a community, suggesting it warrants equal attention and care, rather than being perceived as merely inert matter. Puig de la Bellacasa frames soil as part of a living web composed of multiple agencies, in which she integrates perspectives from experiential research, technology, and feminism to examine care. These are then discussed in relation to time, production and economy. She challenges us to reconsider how we conceptualise the world and whether we must expand our understanding of care to encompass the agencies within it.

An interest that caught my attention was the notion of soil time a time that does not fit within a human centred perspective. Soil is a living, ever-changing entity that works on much slower timescales than human activity. However, farming and land use have been exhausting soils for centuries, long before industrialisation (Hillel, 1992). Puig de la Bellacasa highlights how soil’s natural cycles of regeneration are increasingly at odds with the speed at which humans demand from it. As the pressure to produce grows, the time available to restore soil health shrinks, pushing us toward an uncertain environmental future. Tsiafouli et al. (2014) warn that overusing soil for productivity risks destroying the very life within it that makes it fertile. Whether we see this crisis as part of the Anthropocene (human-driven change) or the Capitalocene (rooted in capitalism’s impact), it’s clear that soil’s timeline doesn’t fit neatly into human priorities. Recognising soil as an active and interconnected part of our world forces us to rethink how we care for and live alongside it.

Puig de la Bellacasa connects soil time to economic pressures, showing how soil is treated as a commodity rather than a living system. Monbiot (2015) warns that treating soil like dirt is a serious mistake, yet history shows how economic interests often dictate its value. The Dust Bowl, for example, led to more investment in soil conservation, but largely to protect agricultural productivity rather than soil health (Helms, 1997). As fertile land becomes scarcer, its value rises, leading to even more intensive use. Soil biologist Stephen Nortcliff (2006) notes that from the 1970s onwards, sustainability in agriculture was mostly about maintaining crop yields, not protecting soil itself. This focus on production reduces care to a set of management tasks rather than a real relationship with soil. In the end, soil isn’t cared for, it’s controlled, depleted, and still expected to produce, what I would refer to as slave soil.

The final part of chapter 5 is that of the reciprocity of care between the human and soil. The reciprocity of care between humans and soil requires a fundamental shift in perception, from viewing soil as a passive resource to recognising it as a dynamic, living community. Elaine Ingham suggests that soil is not dirt (1984), to care for it, we must immerse ourselves in its complexities. Yet, as Hillel (2004) notes, humans often disrupt soil’s ecological cycles rather than participate within them. Astrid Schrader’s question, how do we begin to care for others whose existence we might not even have been aware of? (2015) This question emphasises the challenge of fostering responsibility toward the unseen microbial worlds that sustain soil health. Engaging with soil through observation, maintenance, and nourishment reveals a web of interdependencies where care is not simply an act but an ongoing relational practice. Proximity to soil is not about fascination or repulsion but about recognising our everyday entanglement with it. True care means altering our existing relations with soil, not just as consumers or producers but as active participants within its living processes.