Food Activism: Agency, Democracy and Economy

by Carole Counihan (Editor), Valeria Siniscalchi (Editor)

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.

Genres: Food

264 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2013

Reviews

[Vanessa M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carole Counihan is a food activist and a scholar. This book is a collection of researchers' paper on food activism. From small farmers in Oregon to the Slow food movement in Italy or Via Campesina..Mexican farmers fighting against big GMO seed manufacturers, associations dealing with farms taken away to the mafia, and cities in rich countries trying to go back to a more local agriculture. It doesn't give you any answer nor guides you to understand how to make agriculture more sustainable or fairer. It just tells the stories of these researchers. It feels more like a patchwork of realities, generating 'food for thought' ( excuse the pun). I really liked some, like the relationships between farmers and directors in Terra Libera ( not all on the same side) how traceability and transparency have replaced fairtrade in consumers' minds (but with little control on the fields), and the link between Islam and food activism in Egypt. I wish Carole would have created a conclusion, giving some king of cohesion to the whole exercise.