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Culture and the Politics of Alternative Food Networks

2009; Routledge; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2752/155280109x368679

1751-7443

Wendy Parkins, Geoffrey Craig,

Sustainable Urban and Rural Development

Much of the existing research on emerging alternative food networks has not sufficiently recognized the importance of culture and we seek to address this omission. Through two case studies of global and local forms of alternative food networks respectively, we demonstrate the centrality and complexity of the workings of culture in the places, practices and politics of alternative food networks. Firstly, a study of Slow Food's Terra Madre forum illustrates the negotiation that occurs between cultural formations and global flows in an attempt to deploy cultural values to protect and enhance alternative food networks. Secondly, the Otago Farmers' Market is examined as an instance of an affective cultural space which can engender the formation of ethical subjectivity and political potential. In each case, our analysis is motivated by a desire to explore the political possibilities of alternative food networks.