This site collects materials and findings from my on-going research on the foundation of human existence: food, care, land; specifically for the purposes of enriching the human habitat and the complex web of life which sustains our livelihoods. My name is Nina Isabella Moeller and I’m Associate Professor of Political Ecology and People’s Knowledge at Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (30%) and Associate Professor at SDU Food Lab (70%), where I currently work on urban food planning.
From the field, the kitchen and philosophy, anthropology, geography, politics, sociology, agroecology, law, permaculture, animism and magic. In search of diversity, autonomy, community, flourishing, into a more-than-sustainable future, inspired by the other side of the anthropocene. Subsistence matters as foundation for the good life, or, as Kichwa-speaking people say, Sumak Kawsay.
subsistence, n. /səbˈsɪst(ə)ns/
Meaning: Existence as a being; the basis or foundation of existence; the maintenance and support of life.
Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin subsistentia. Etymology: < (i) Middle French subsistence (in theology) hypostasis, fact of subsisting by oneself (a1481; earlier in philosophy in sense ‘form, shape’ (1372); French †subsistence ).
matter(s), v. & n., Brit. /ˈmatə/, U.S. /ˈmædər/
Meaning: [verb]: To be of importance; to signify; usually in interrogative contexts; [noun]: That which has mass and occupies space; physical substance as distinct from spirit, mind, qualities, actions, etc.; a thing, affair, concern; a subject of contention, dispute, litigation, etc.; something contemplated, intended, or desired; that which constitutes or forms the basis of thought, speech, or action; the subject of a book, speech, etc.; a theme, a topic, a subject of exposition. In early use also: a narrative, an account, a tale.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French matier. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman matier, matere, matire, mateire, Old French matere, matiere (12th cent.; French matière ) < classical Latin māteria (also māteriēs ) wood, timber, building material, material of which a thing is made, purulent matter, subject of discourse or consideration, also (in philosophical use) ‘matter’ in contradistinction to ‘mind’ or to ‘form’ < mātermother n. (usually explained as originally denoting the trunk of a tree regarded as the ‘mother’ of its offshoots).
