Night Soil: Origins, Discontinuities, and Opportunities for Bridging the Metabolic Rift

  • Nicholas C. Kawa Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0246-4445
  • Yang Ding School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus
  • Jo Kingsbury School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus
  • Kori Goldberg The Ohio State University, Columbus; World Wildlife Fund, District of Columbia
  • Forbes Lipschitz Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus
  • Mitchell Scherer Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus
  • Fatuma Bonkiye Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.10.1.2019.1351
Keywords: Biosolids, Excrement, Humanure, Soil management practice, Agroecology

Abstract

For millennia, people have relied on human excrement or “night soil” as a source of agricultural fertilization. Following industrialization, however, the use of this resource became considerably limited. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the historical use of human excreta for agricultural application at varying scales of management, from early Amazonian farming middens to regional networks of night soil trade in imperial China. We then draw attention to the factors that led to the discontinuation of night soil usage during industrialization, placing focus on the “culture of flushing” that developed along with the adoption of the hydraulic sanitation system. To conclude, we consider how improved management of human excreta in the contemporary world can have important consequences for agricultural production, despite the ongoing challenges posed by what Marxian scholars refer to as the metabolic rift—the disruption of the earth’s socio-ecological cycles brought on by industrial capitalism.

Author Biographies

Nicholas C. Kawa, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus
Nicholas C. Kawa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Ohio State University. Currently, he is developing ethnographic research on the use of biosolids for agricultural fertilization in the American Midwest.
Yang Ding, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus

Yang Ding is an M.S. student in the Environmental Science Graduate Program at the Ohio State University.

Jo Kingsbury, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus
Jo Kingsbury is a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Studies Graduate Program at the Ohio State University.
Kori Goldberg, The Ohio State University, Columbus; World Wildlife Fund, District of Columbia
Kori Goldberg recently graduated from the Ohio State University with a Master’s degree in Environment and Natural Resources and now works at World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. 
Forbes Lipschitz, Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus
Forbes Lipschitz is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Ohio State University. Her research examines the potential for design to improve the social and ecological dynamics of conventional working landscapes.
Mitchell Scherer, Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus

Mitch Scherer recently received his Master of Landscape Architecture degree at the Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture after studying animal science at Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences. 

Fatuma Bonkiye, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus
Fatuma Bonkiye is a research assistant in the Deptartment of Anthropology at the Ohio State University.

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Class B biosolids are used to fertilize 90,000 acres of dryland wheat fields managed by over 100 landowners in the Boulder Park area of Washington state, USA. (Photograph by Nicholas C. Kawa).
Published
2019-07-18
How to Cite
Kawa, N. C., Ding, Y., Kingsbury, J., Goldberg, K., Lipschitz, F., Scherer, M., & Bonkiye, F. (2019). Night Soil: Origins, Discontinuities, and Opportunities for Bridging the Metabolic Rift. Ethnobiology Letters, 10(1), 40-49. https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.10.1.2019.1351
Issue
Vol 10 No 1 (2019)
Section
Perspectives

Copyright (c) 2019 Yang Ding, Kori Goldberg, Joanna Kingsbury, Mitchell Scherer, Fatuma Bonkiye, Nicholas C. Kawa

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