Join us for our second lunch seminar this fall with Dr. Aja Watkins!
Abstract:
Soil classification faces special challenges and supports important projects such as land use planning and agriculture. In this talk, I’ll trace the historical debates about how to classify and taxonomize soil, systematized as an attempt to coherently answer several, distinct questions about soil ontology, kinds, measurement, and the scope of the classification system, as well as what the purpose of classifying soil is, anyway, and what sort of criteria should be used to determine what kind of soil different soils are. I’ll argue that analyzing these questions in the soil case can help us understand classification debates in other contexts, and can help make sense of some ongoing, contemporary debates among soil scientists.
Zoom link: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/95808781583. Please keep in mind that to access the talk via Zoom, you’ll need to sign in with your @wisc.edu login credentials.