Containern och värdet av ovisshet

Abstract

Although it is often pointed out that uncertainty can be a source of insecurity and fear, there are also situations when it is a good thing.

David, a man around 30 years of age, maintains an urban resource-landscape consisting of dumpsters where usable things occasionally can be found, and fruit trees of which the legal and moral ownership is unclear. Besides making his excursions exciting and fun, uncertainty acts as a key element that enables him to make use of the resources. This uncertainty revolves around whether harvesting the fruit or picking up things from the dumpster is legally, morally and culturally acceptable or not. If it clearly is not, he will have to stop doing it, and if it clearly is, others may start competing over the goods. He visits the fruit trees and dumpsters secretly, and strives to develop his capacity to deal with feelings of disgust over the sometimes stinking garbage. In this way he is able to maintain this state of liminality and his ability to make use of it.

In the article, David and I take a bicycle tour around his dumpster sites, and while we look for usable things, he tells me about his motivations and experiences.