Terraces cut into a mountainside look like large steps leading into the clouds. This system I saw in Peru has been shaping those hillsides for thousands of years. I kept thinking about how something built without a single piece of modern machinery has managed to outlast so much we’ve constructed since.
That trip, and the questions it left me with, sparked my interest in writing a piece that I recently published in the Land Stories Initiative section of Unruly Dialogues. I found the site through a weekly email from the American Anthropological Association, which flags opportunities and publications across the field.
The site is built around a few different spaces for engaging with the environment. There’s Dialoguing, for written work like poems and short reflections. Sights and Sounds, for visual and multimodal pieces. A section dedicated to climate change and climate justice. And Land Stories Initiative, where contributors are invited to think and feel land differently than we’re used to, which is where my piece lives.
My essay discusses the terrace farming systems in Peru and what they can teach us about working with land instead of against it. It’s live on the site now, and I’d love for you to read it. Beyond my own piece, the site is full of incredible work worth spending time with, and I’d encourage you to poke around and see what else is there.
Living in Culture 
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