"Do You Have Any Empties?" Cover Image

"Do You Have Any Empties?"
"Do You Have Any Empties?"

Bottle Collectors’ Interactions in Public Spaces in Zagreb

Author(s): Dino Vukušić, Stephanie Stelko
Subject(s): Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure , Social Theory, Rural and urban sociology, Sociology of Culture, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Hrvatsko etnološko društvo
Keywords: bottle collecting; marginalized groups; symbolics of interaction; public spaces; Zagreb;

Summary/Abstract: This paper describes the practices of people who collect discarded bottles and cans during public events in Zagreb, Croatia, which they return to recycling centers in order to receive a bottle deposit needed to supplement their low incomes. In addition to an ethnographic section in which we briefly describe this underrepresented aspect of everyday life in Zagreb, we address the symbolics at play in bottle collectors’ interactions among themselves and with "bottle providers" – people who gather in public spaces and consume drinks from bottles and cans. In so doing, we describe how the presence of a marginalized social group becomes visible in public spaces.

  • Issue Year: 46/2016
  • Issue No: 39
  • Page Range: 187-197
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English