Seeing Wood for the Trees : Placing Biological Processes Within Practices of Heating and Harvesting

Rinkinen, Jenny Maria (2018) Seeing Wood for the Trees : Placing Biological Processes Within Practices of Heating and Harvesting. In: Social Practices and Dynamic Non-Humans : Nature, Materials and Technologies. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 47-62. ISBN 9783319921884

Abstract

This chapter aims to move towards a ‘biological’ understanding of materiality within theories of practice. Recognising that the biological and social are part of an intertwined process of becoming, the chapter argues for a turn from the “objectness” of things to the material flows and formative processes wherein they come into being. In reflecting upon such a turn, Rinkinen draws from the examples of wood management and small-scale wood-based space heating practices, to emphasise wood as a living organism and distinctive material element of practice. Recognising that practices not only demand resources, but interact with them in a constitutive manner, helps comprehend how practices are anchored in the material world.