Food Activism Agency, Democracy and Economy

by Counihan, Carole; Siniscalchi, Valeria

• ISBN13: 9780857858337
• ISBN10: 0857858335
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-01-30
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Across the globe, people are challenging the agro-industrial food system and its exploitation of people and resources, reduction of local food varieties, and negative health consequences. In this collection leading international anthropologists explore food activism across the globe to show how people speak to, negotiate, or cope with power through food.

Who are the actors of food activism and what forms of agency do they enact? What kinds of economy, exchanges, and market relations do they practice and promote? How are they organized and what are their scales of political action and power relations? Each chapter explores why and how people choose food as a means of forging social and economic justice, covering diverse forms of food activism from individual acts by consumers or producers to organized social groups or movements. The case studies embrace a wide geographical spectrum including Cuba, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Mexico, Italy, Canada, France, Colombia, Japan, and the USA.

This is the first book to examine food activism in diverse local, national, and transnational settings, making it essential reading for students and scholars in anthropology and other fields interested in food, economy, politics and social change.

Author Biography

Carole Counihan is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Millersville University, USA.

Valeria Siniscalchi is Associate Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Marseille, France.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Ethnography of Food Activism - Valeria Siniscalchi, École Des Hautes Études En Sciences Sociales, France and Carole Counihan, Millersville University, USA

Local Engagements
Food Activism in Western Oregon - Joan E. Gross, Oregon State University, USA
Engaging Latino Immigrants in Seattle Food Activism - Teresa M. Mares, University of Vermont, USA
Resistance and Household Food Consumption in Santiago De Cuba - Hanna Garth, University of California at Los Angeles, USA
Women, Gender and Food Activism in Italy - Carole Counihan, Millersville University, USA
The Movement to Reinvigorate Local Food Culture in Kyoto, Japan - Greg De St. Maurice, University of Pittsburgh, USA

National Actions
French Biodynamic Viticulture: Militancy or Market Niche? - Marie-France Garcia Parpet, Institut De La Recherche Agronomique, France
Sicilian ‘Antimafia’ Food Production Cooperatives - Theodoros Rakopoulos, Goldsmiths College London, UK
The Canadian Wheat Board Struggle: Taking Freedom and Democracy to Market - Birgit Müller, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, France
Brothers in Faith: Islamic Food Activism in Egypt - Nefissa Naguib, University of Bergen, Norway

Transnational Networks
Information, Transparency and Democracy in the Global Coffee Trade - Daniel Reichman, University of Rochester, USA
“Cultures of Corn” and Anti-GM Activism in Mexico and Colombia - Elizabeth Fitting, Dalhousie University, Canada
Peasants’ Transnational Mobilization for Food Sovereignty in La Vía Campesina - Delphine Thivet, École Des Hautes Études En Sciences Sociales, France
Oscillating Between Village and Globe: Articulating Food in Sri Lankan Activism - Wim Van Daele, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Slow Food Activism Between Politics and Economy - Valeria Siniscalchi, École Des Hautes Études En Sciences Sociales, France

Bibliography
Index