Soil carbon literature review in the humanities and the social sciences

Despite rising interest in the humanities and social sciences, as attested in this book, soil carbon remains scarcely addressed in these fields. This literature review introduces three emerging sets of literature in social and human sciences that started addressing the knowledge, governance and practices related to soil carbon. We do not aim for comprehensiveness: instead, we would like to outline some major inspirations and orientations of recent research into soil carbon. We shall distinguish between: -Social studies of soil carbon sciences – i.e. a strand of research in history and sociology that focuses on the social practices of knowledge production on soil carbon within the scientific communities, and their reconfigurations in the context of the fight against climate change. -Social studies of soil carbon economy – i.e. a strand of research in political ecology and economic sociology that analyses the rising focus on soils as carbon sinks in climate governance and the associated development of soil carbon accounting schemes and metrics. -Social studies of soil regeneration – i.e. a set of writings in environmental humanities that addresses soil organic matter regeneration understandings and practices, such as composting, in a range of rural and urban contexts.