The Mushroom at the End of the World

Posted on 21 July 2018 by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world and a weed that grows in human disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question what manages to live in the ruins we have madeA tale of diversity within our damaged landscapes, The Mushroom at the End of the World follows one of the strangest commodity chains of our times to explore the unexpected corners of capitalism Here, we witness the varied and peculiar worlds of matsutake commerce the worlds of Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, industrial forests, Yi Chinese goat herders, Finnish nature guides, and These companions also lead us into fungal ecologies and forest histories to better understand the promise of cohabitation in a time of massive human destruction.By investigating one of the world s most sought after fungi, The Mushroom at the End of the World presents an original examination into the relation between capitalist destruction and collaborative survival within multispecies landscapes, the prerequisite for continuing life on earth. Best Read The Mushroom at the End of the World [ author ] Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Coulda been great it s an experiment that failed, or, maybe, never needed to be taken in the first place.At its most fundamental, Tsing s book is an ethnography of those people involved in the trade of the matsutake mushroom Valued in Japan, the mushroom has become scarce there now there are attempts to bring it back to the archipelago at the same time it is being harvested in Finland, Russia, and the Pacific Northwest where much of the book is centered and where the work is done by an unex Coulda been great it s an experiment that failed, or... .,,, ,, ,,, ,, , ,,, , , , , Do you ever have one of those evenings where you re listening in on a really erudite, engaging conversation A conversation among smart people where everyone is totally into the subject, and in discussing it bring each other to all kinds of new insights and connections among widely disparate things Have you ever overhead tha...Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing writes Now it seems that all our lives are precarious even when, for the moment, our pockets are lined In contrast to the mid twentieth century, when poets and philosophers of the global north felt caged by too much stability, now many of us, north and south, confront the condition of trouble without end.And While I refu...What a thoughtful, well observed ethnography this is, driven by that special kind of anthropological curiosity that dares to think beyond the conceptual categories of our past and present, instead gesturing towards some unformed future that becomes legible in close attention the social relations of goods people on the margins In this version, we have a story told around a singular thing the matsutake mushroom As tends to be the case with objects brought into neoliberal capitalism, a sma What a thoughtful, well observed ethnography this is, driven by that special kind of anthropological curiosity that dares to think beyond the conceptual categories of our past and present, instead gesturing towards some unformed future that becomes leg...Anna Tsing s The Mushroom at the End of the World is a delightful exploration of third nature, or what lives despite capitalism As she explains I look for disturbance based ecologies in which many species sometimes live together without either harmony or conquest She traces this ecology for the Matsutake mushroom, a delicacy in Japan that has lead pickers to follow them around the globe to Oregon, where the logging industry has created forests of quick growing pines Matsutake grow well Anna Tsing s The Mushroom at the End of the World is a delightful exploration of third nature, or what lives despite capitalism As she explains I look for disturbance based ecologies in which many species sometimes live together without either harmony or conquest She traces this ecology for the Matsutake mushroom, a delicacy in Japan that has lead pickers to follow them around the globe to Oregon, where the logging industry has created forests of quick growing pines Matsutake grow well alongside pines, and pines grow well in disturbed landscapes The work is admirable in that it addresses the what s l...How the biologies of mushrooms and forests, japanese supply chain management strategies, and different practices of freedom among southeast asians and whites in the pacific northwest all make matsutake mushroom trade possible Anthropology of capitalism at its best Beautiful prose too.I love to sink into the mind of Anna Tsing, because she knows her mind and her writing isn t hers It s a web of roots and rhizomes where all kinds of creatures are welcome.As academic writing this is such a good challenge to old epistemologies and ego infused academies This is playful, collaborative, and surprising As Tsing writes Getting by without progress requires a good deal of feeling around with our hands As lyrical prose some sentences made me grit my teeth.As political s I love to sink into the mind of Anna Tsing, because she knows her mind and her writing isn t hers It s a web of roots and rhizomes where all kinds of creatures are welcome.As academic writing this is such a good challenge to old epistemologies and ego infused academies This is playful, collaborative, and surprising As Tsing writes Getting by without progress requires a good deal of feeling around with our hands As lyrical prose some sentences made me grit my teeth.As political stance I mostly loved the commitment to learn how to appreciate the wast... , ,, , , , , ,, , , ,, ,

English
21 July 2018

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing