Alternatives to Extractivism: A manifesto of propositions and unresolved questions

In response to our present socio-ecological juncture and an effort to participate in a different kind of academia, we – a collective of academics and artists – co-laboured to develop a propositional manifesto as a way of thinking-feeling about ‘alternatives to extractvism’ (A2E). While embedded in existing scholarship, the manifesto does not seek to provide a ‘state of the art’ review, break new ground or provide fully articulated certainties. Instead, it poses questions to hint at ways of thinking-feeling about collaborative methodologies that more broadly attend to diverse ways of being, knowing and doing with humans and other-than-human critters and formations, with a particular emphasis on (sub)soils. This manifesto is (thus) composed not of theses, but propositions. After a brief reflection on soil, we turn to our first two propositions, bringing together conceptual work on epistemic considerations and on space and time. The third proposition is a modest attempt to explore what extractivism and its alternatives might be, and the fourth and fifth delve into the real-life and methodological struggles of seeking alternatives. Our words are accompanied by artwork created during an A2E workshop (Mozambique, 2024) and a series of collages developed subsequently. The artworks pose their own questions, showing our points of departure from the perspective of engaged artists in Mozambique and beyond. We conclude with a reflection on the value of not-knowing and ethnographic restraint. Ursula K. Le Guin’s is but one of many sources of inspiration, her speculative fiction challenging – urging, tickling – us to use our imagination.