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In Valais (Switzerland) several non-monetary aid programs from associations and the state support farming families whose farms are located at an altitude of over 800 meters by providing them with human resources.


In recent years, the number of voluntary initiatives in the canton of Valais has multiplied, bringing together a variety of actors from outside the farming community who engage in surprising and innovative exchange relationships with farming families.

What do non-monetary aid programs for mountain farmers do, in professional and relational terms, at the symbolic and identity levels, for the human and non-human parties involved, and how?

To answer this question, this project involves a 10-month ethnographic immersion in four existing volunteer programmes in the Valais: Caritas-Montagnards (Caritas), Volontaires Montagne (Aide suisse à la montagne and Groupement suisse pour les régions de montagne, SAB), the Swiss Civil Service and Pastora Protect (Organisation pour la Protection des Alpages suisses, OPPAL), as well as 124 in-depth interviews with farmers, volunteers and officials involved in these programs.

In order to understand in depth «what is exchanged», «what is given» and «what is assembled» in the programs of assistance to mountain farmers, between volunteers and mountain people, humans and non-humans, this project proposes to analyse the role of gift in the mountain farming world, as well as the complex underlying relations of equality and inequality.


The project Volunteers on the Alps considers mountain agriculture as a process of co-dependence involving humans, plants, soils, animals and many objects. It allows for a broadening of the scope of the Alpine Arc, which is welcome to grasp the issues related to the difficulties encountered by small-scale farmers at high altitudes and to engage in adequate social and public policies in mountain areas.

Research Team

  • Viviane Cretton, project leader (HES-SO Valais Wallis)
  • Maria Anna Bertolino, scientific collaborator (HES-SO Valais Wallis)
  • Marie Eich, PhD student (HES-SO Valais Wallis)


Research Partners

  • Andrea Boscoboinik (University of Fribourg)
  • Elisabeth Tauber (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
  • Yann Decorzant (Regional centre for alpine population studies, Sembrancher)
  • Jérémie Forney (University of Neuchâtel)


Funding

  • Swiss National Science Foundation