This book presents a novel and systematic social theory of soil, and is representative of the rising interest in 'the material' in social sciences. Bringing together new modes of 'critical description' with speculative practices and methods of inquiry, it contributes to the exploration of current transformations in socioecologies, as well as in political and artistic practices, in order to address global ecological change.

The chapters in this edited volume challenge scholars to attend more carefully to the ways in which they think about soil, both materially and theoretically. Contributors address a range of topics, including new ways of thinking about the politics of caring for soils; the ecological and symbiotic relations between soils; how the productive capacities and contested governance of soils are deployed as matters of political concern; and indigenous ways of knowing and being with soil.

Juan Francisco Salazar is Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University, Australia.

Céline Granjou is Associate Professor at the National Institute of Science and Technology in Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA), University of Grenoble-Alps, France.

Matthew Kearnes is Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Anna Krzywoszynska is Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK.

Manuel Tironi is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anhtropology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile.