For all eventualities: Prepping, consumption and unsustainable futures
Short description
The interest in prepping – i.e., the practice of preparing oneself and one’s household for a future crisis – has grown in Sweden in recent years, reaching a peak in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. As a cultural phenomenon, prepping exists at the intersection of sub-culturre and civil defense. There are numerous blogs, podcast and online forums where preppers review and discuss the right goods to buy and store in the event of a crisis scenario – be it temporary blackouts, financial troubles or total societal collapse. Drawing on interviews and digital ethnography with Swedish preppers, the project examines the relationship between orientations toward dystopic scenarios and consumption, highlighting the emotional ambiguity inherent in enjoying the process of preparing and consuming for that which one fears.
The interest in prepping – i.e., the practice of preparing oneself and one’s household for a future crisis – has grown in Sweden and other western countries in recent years, reaching a peak in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.
A cultural phenomenon
As a cultural phenomenon, prepping exists at the intersection of sub-cultural community, hobby activity and civil defense – often focusing on the development of skills as well as the acquisition of material ‘prepps’.
While preppers generally plan for futures where everyday consumption no longer is possible, acquiring the right goods in the present is an essential element of prepping practices.
Concordantly, the landscape of prepper consumption flourishes, with a large number of commercial actors marketing foodstuffs with long shelf-life, preparedness kits and other survival equipment. In turn, there are numerous blogs, podcast and online forums where preppers review and discuss the right goods to buy and store in the event of a crisis scenario – be it temporary blackouts, financial troubles or total societal collapse.
Oriented towards the past and the future
In short, prepping can be understood as consumption for the future within what is perceived as an unsustainable society, where preparations in the here-and-now are ways of managing and investing material resources as well as emotions in the uncertainty of what is to come. As many preppers strive towards self-reliance and the reclamation of the skills and knowledge of yore, lost to modern ways of life, they are at once oriented towards the past and that which is not-yet-here – getting ready for the 'when' (not the 'if') of a coming crisis.
Drawing on interviews and digital ethnography with Swedish preppers, the project examines the relationship between orientations toward dystopic scenarios and consumption, highlighting the emotional ambiguity inherent in enjoying the process of preparing and consuming for that which one fears.
