520

Living sustainability 

My second autoethnographic article (Living sustainability: reflections on the value of everyday practices) is out. I worked on this article for many months both in Finland and Denmark, but it captures and embodies much more time than that. It's another analysis of these autoethnographic notes that are my autoethnographic data. In the very beginning, as I stepped on the path of formally studying my practice via autoethnography, I took several of these notes privately. Then I began to wonder how my strong belief in research transparency fit into it. I decided to post all my notes, together with photographs, and then write all new entries right here so my fellow humans could read it. There is nothing else. 

This data are many things to me. It's part of my research. It's my story. It's a diary of me as a human being (that is why many entries are very personal). It's a description of trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle within a given framework (including various structures and systems as well as my own body). 

I hope to continue writing this autoethnography for the rest of my life, reflecting on various changes, challenges, and growth. I plan to share our journey of becoming parents and navigating sustainable living with a child in a society where overconsumption is normalised. 

I received an email from the publisher encouraging me to share the 50 free copies of the article with friends and colleagues. Most of my colleagues have access to this article via their institutions, or they are used to emailing the author directly to ask for a copy (it's a standard practice in academia). Oftentimes, it is persons from other walks of life who don't have access to academic works, so I'm posting the link to the free copies here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/M7WMMFAM3MUBWCSHWY6U/full?target=10.1080/14767430.2024.2421696

The article is very long. It's probably the longest article I've written. It contains some stories, contemplations on the theme of the self in sustainability transformations, and many examples from my everyday life. I recommend to download the article as a pdf (click view pdf) and read it over time. I didn't write it only for academics. I wrote it for everyone. 

519

 A new human being

I was always postponing creating a new human being. I feel that many women in academia can relate. Over the years in academia, I've heard so many stories of women being scared to have children, to take maternity leave, or have gaps in the cv due to new childcare responsibilities. 

When I was doing my PhD, I thought: of course I cannot have a child now. I had a 3-year contract with the university, and I had to finish my PhD within that timeframe. I had very little support from my supervisors, and in the end of that journey my supervisor plagiarised my work. Removing him from my supervision took a year. It was incredibly stressful too. After I finished my PhD in England, I moved to northern Sweden. My contract was a 2 year one. I thought: of course I cannot have a child now. I'm on a temporary contract. There is no end of short-term contracts and constant relocations in sight. I promised myself that when I get a permanent position, I would finally have a child. After Sweden, I moved to Finland. It was yet another short-term contract. In the middle of it, the manager asked me to choose between my work and my relationship. Her supervisor tried to replace her so I could have another line manager who would empathise with the fact that some (perhaps even most) humans want to have both, a job and a relationship. But he failed. I moved to Denmark and moved in with my partner. We decided to have a child without waiting for the perfect time. Ideally, both of us would have stable, secure jobs. I would have a long-term residence permit in Denmark. Yet, life unfolds in its own way, and it felt wrong to wait. In the end of my life, I would not want to look back and think that I missed an opportunity to have a child because of the state of academia. No one should choose between having meaningful work and a family. Unfortunately, academia is often not a good place to fulfil one's diverse callings. 

In the past 15 years, I've been on the path of practising a sustainable mode of living (that is best described as a constellation of various zero-waste, slow living, simple living, and minimalist practices). In the past few years, I've been studying my lifestyle formally via a method called autoethnography (self-ethnography). These notes are my autoethnographic data. I've always known that I would continue to work on my autoethnography throughout my pregnancy and our life as a family. It's been my dream to write another autoethnographic work dedicated to this new chapter of my life, and a book, together with my partner, about slow and minimalist parenting.  

It was easy to practise extreme minimalism when I lived on my own. I lived without furniture, with less than 50 personal possessions. Inviting a new human being into our lives comes with big changes. When we first mentioned our desire to have a child to a fellow human, a family member, the first thing we heard was that we needed so many new things. Indeed, when I looked, out of curiosity, at what is marketed to pregnant persons and then to new mothers and young humans, I was overwhelmed. I understand that whatever humans buy for themselves and for their children is because they want the best outcomes for their children and themselves. It is not because they want to destroy nature or contribute to overconsumption. And yet, I've felt that I wanted to relate with my body, my yet unborn baby, and then my child very differently. I want to base these relationships on the same principles that I base my lifestyle on. Enough-ness. Slowness. Simplicity. And I want to write about it. 

In the first 6 weeks, I didn't invite anything new into my life, apart from a large glass jar. The jar came with food. I removed the label, washed it, and began to use it for tap water that I drink more of these days. I infuse peppermint tea in another upcycled glass jar and sip this tea throughout the day.