Preliminary communication

https://doi.org/10.15378/1848-9540.2016.39.08

"Do You Have Any Empties?" Bottle Collectors’ Interactions in Public Spaces in Zagreb

Dino Vukušić orcid.org/0000-0002-8544-9610
Stephanie Stelko orcid.org/0000-0001-5121-7881

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.

Keywords

bottle collecting; marginalized groups; symbolics of interaction; public spaces; Zagreb

Hrčak ID:

171007

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/171007

Publication date:

21.12.2016.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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