Talking Dirt(y): the Significance of Geophagy for Practitioners in London

Geophagy - also referred to as soil-, clay-, or dirt-eating - is stigmatised in public health literature and perceived as "dirty". However, geophagy has symbolic meaning to those who practice it in London, specifically in relation to gender, migration, and cultural concepts of the body. Geophagy is also associated with currently unrecorded traditional ecological knowledge of soils, and questions about the microbes in soils ingested during geophagy are of importance in relation to both the health of those consuming soil and growing interests from bioprospectors. This project takes an interdisciplinary approach which brings together anthropology, ethnopedology, and microbiome / ESRC NINE DTP Postgraduate Studentship Nomination Form / Page 3 of 14 science. Methodologically, this interdisciplinary approach involves examining ethnographically the symbolic meanings and traditional ecological knowledge associated with geophagy to those in London who practice it, while simultaneously taking a bioinformatics approach to identifying microbes present in the soils being consumed. Participant observation with my interlocuters constitutes spending time with them at the East London community centres where they meet to discuss geophagy, observing them practicing geophagy, and informally observing their daily lives. DNA sequence data will be produced from samples of edible soils collected during fieldwork, and compared against the global Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) and to identify which microbes are present. This study will contribute to understandings of health, well-being, and society in London by furthering knowledge of the symbolic significance of geophagy to practitioners, generating new insight into practitioners' knowledge of soils, characterising the microbes consumed during geophagy, and developing frameworks for benefit-sharing with my interlocuters