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From Food Utopias to Food Futures: Theory and Practice in Agri-Food Transformation
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC40 Sociology of Agriculture and Food (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
There is growing recognition among scholars, policy makers and social movements of the unevenly distributed social, environmental and economic inequalities created by the current agri-food system, and thus, that food systems everywhere are in desperate need of reform. But how do we move from utopian visions to alternative food futures that are viable, replicable, scalable and democratically supported? As sociologists, what theories and practices in-the-making are up to the task of explaining how we get there?
According to Sociologist Erik Olin Wright, building theories of social transformation requires us not only to diagnose and critique the current world, but also to envisage viable alternatives and understand the possibilities and dilemmas of transformation. Food utopias builds on this, by providing both theory and method ‘to tell the many new stories of food and agriculture that help illuminate the ideology of our current system while engaging in the work to help the new stories take root’. Operationalising new ways of doing food futures differently is not only academic; it is also a political project interested in demonstrating new ways of sharing, thinking and doing.
Theoretical and empirical papers are invited that explore innovative ways of engaging with existing experiments in building more sustainable, just and democratic collective visions for future societies. We especially welcome case studies of experiments in food justice, food sovereignty or solidarity economy around the world that consider the intersectionality of food with broader social/economic issues (such as gender, poverty, sustainability and governance).