A clay from Weslatiya that is widely used in Tunisian ceramic production has abundant reserves but generates significant waste, posing environmental concerns if not handled appropriately. This study explores the valorization of this local clay by incorporating ceramic waste (chamotte) and quartz sand to produce eco-friendly materials, in line with sustainability and circular economy principles. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analyses reveal that incorporating chamotte at levels exceeding 15% by weight improves the material’s properties. The Young’s modulus of the composite increases to 80 GPa, more than 2.5 times that of the basic clay. Chamotte can replace up to 30% of quartz sand without significantly affecting densification or porosity while preserving structural integrity. This approach offers flexibility in terms of material composition, enhancing performance and promoting sustainability by reusing waste materials for high-performance ceramics in industrial applications.

In a contemporary global political economy marked by the increasing semiotization of economic production, the commodification of political communication, and the fusion between media and capital, this special issue turns to the notion of “translation” to further our understanding of the role of language and semiosis within contemporary capitalism. Contrary to its conventional definition as inter-linguistic transfer of semantic meaning, we propose to view translation as a metasemiotic infrastructure for speeding up and scaling up production and for crafting forms of sociality and subjectivity conducive to capitalist valorization. The articles in this collection ethnographically explore the working of translation across registers, channels, modalities, semiotic fields, and ontological orders (as well as linguistic codes). Our goal is to analyze how translation affords the global circulation of standardized discursive protocols and institutional policy bundles, and enables the formation of politico-juridical networks of corporate personhood and (neo-)liberal governmentality. Furthermore, we investigate how translation can be resisted, sabotaged, or made invisible, showing how its semiotic metamarks can be alternatively disguised or highlighted within the regimes of uniqueness and seriality underlying contemporary forms of commodity production. This Introduction provides the theoretical backdrop underlying these diverse contributions.

A kaolin deposit from Mankon (northwest Cameroon) was prospected and studied for potential applications in ceramics. Six samples were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the mineralogical composition and with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to determine the chemical composition and properties for ceramic applications. The main minerals in the clays are kaolinite/halloysite and anatase associated with alunite, illite, gibbsite and maghemite. The kaolin samples have abundant organic matter (4–10%) and low absorption of methylene blue (0.2–2.5 meq/100 g), while SiO2 (33.28–56.31%) and Al2O3 (19.26–35.87%) are major oxides. The particle-size distribution derived from sieving and the hydrometer method indicates that 12–38% of the samples are in the <2 μm clay fraction. The clays have low to moderate plasticity (7–21%). One sample with K-feldspar and plagioclase displays the necessary properties for red ceramic products. SEM confirmed the occurence of halloysite in sample M9. The high kaolinite/halloysite content (64–97%), associated with low Fe2O3 content (0.5–1.4%) demonstrates that five samples are suitable raw materials for white firing industrial kaolin.

A way of making local breeds more sustainable is to promote their products through individual or collective initiatives. Those initiatives can induce new points of view on the breed and lead to discussions or even tensions between stakeholders. We illustrate this statement with examples of French cattle breeds. Several kinds of changes in breeding goals are described in this paper, with the appearance of new challenges and/or new stakeholders linked to the development of strategies to add value to the breed. Then the several ways in which those changes occurred are explained. The situations analysed show configurations with easy consensus to build as well as situations of conflicts. Those case studies highlight the importance of the existence of arenas where the diverse points of view can be expressed. The role of the breed associations is then essential, but remains complex as, in some cases, breeding goals are strongly discussed. The question of the orientation of the breed then becomes a key question when initiatives to add value to local breeds are taken. New choices of add value generally have important consequences on the definition of breeding goals.