Ethnography of True Sharing Initiatives in Brno

The sharing economy is a topic of the current discussion. Platforms like Airbnb or Uber are often criticized for exploiting the positive connotations of the word ‘sharing’ to achieve financial gain. On the other hand, sharing has always been present in society, especially in families or closely related communities, where it was a fundamental form of asset redistribution. There is a third form of sharing that is often neglected. In this chapter, I focus on true sharing in the form of initiatives that are motivated by social, environmental, or other goals. I will present several sharing initiatives that operate in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. I will mainly focus on relational geography to show how communities are able to access resources and further control their flow through networks. Based on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, I will clarify how initiatives of true sharing manage and redistribute resources such as food, clothes, books, and houseplants. Resource management can highlight the materiality of true sharing as social practice, and also the transformational potential of this type of sharing. I place the whole theme in the broader context of a diversified and community-based economy as presented by Gibson-Graham (2006).