ABSTRACT
Contemporary artists and scientists studying soils from various perspectives have increasingly been engaged in conversations about the value of soil beyond the environmental services it provides and its capacity to produce sustenance.5 Some of these conversations have centered on cultural values and the idea that, for many communities on the planet, soil is an intrinsic part of their heritage.6 Jon Sandor and colleagues,7 for instance, describe the heritage of soil knowledge among different cultural groups across the world. Drawing from the rapidly expanding field of ethnopedology (folk soil taxonomy), which examines the overlaps and divergences between Western soil science and local ecological knowledge,8 they argue that soil knowledge from other cultures through time is of great value because it is long term and time tested, and because it is holistically integrated within other aspects of society, including politics, economy, and religion.
