Destination frugal abundance according to an Icelandic 'slow' village: How to move towards degrowth-aligned futures

This is the data that I collected during my PhD fieldwork in a rural Icelandic village called Djúpivogur in May 2022.

A part of the data is qualitative, coming from transcripts of a two-day participatory workshop, 9 formal and some informal interviews as well as from notes from participant observation. Another part of the data is quantitative, coming from 40 survey responses. The quantitative data was mostly used to assess how close the village was to 'frugal abundance', defined as a situation in which everyone lives well, the consumption is low and the material wants of everyone are satisfied. The qualitative data revolves around better understanding the cultural and institutional arrangements that made the village close to frugal abundance in the first place as well as to letting the participants imagine how other societies could go in such directions.

The quantitative data was analysed using basic statistical techniques, while the qualitative data was analysed through a thematic analysis following the usual tenets of the critical realist philosophy of science. The results will be published as part of my PhD thesis called 'Destination frugal abundance: How to move towards degrowth-aligned futures' in 2025. Some of the qualitative results will also soon (early 2025) be part of a book chapter called 'Frugal abundance: Meaning in practice in an Icelandic village' in The Routledge Handbook on Degrowth. I also intend to use them in other peer-reviewed publications.