5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Colonialism has served the growth of many academic disciplines in the social sciences, including sociology. Discussions of decolonizing sociology are underway, but sociology institutions in postcolonial geographies remain dominated by Western thought. The persistence of imperial perspectives of the sociological imagination has bearing on the realization of social and multispecies justice in the postcolonial world. There is a growing number of scholars in critical agrarian and food studies who endeavor to decolonize the field by, for example, recentering local and indigenous perspectives and methodologies, and drawing from decolonial frameworks. Yet, this emerging body of scholarship remains peripheral. In this roundtable session, we will discuss to what extent the sociological imagination of agriculture and food in contemporary scholarship remains entangled with the legacies and vestiges of empires. We will ask to what extent sociologists of agriculture and food have so far decolonized the discipline in terms of theory, methodology, and practice. We will then explore opportunities to further decolonize the field, as well as ruminate on existing challenges in the contexts of the ecological crisis, the post-pandemic crisis of neoliberal economic globalization, and the rise of nationalist and authoritarian politics. The session endeavors to invite scholars from the peripheries and centers of knowledge production, with priority given to those coming from the former. The roundtable discussion will be based on session participants’ research, teaching, and service work related to food and agriculture, focusing on their efforts to navigate sociological theories, negotiate institutional expectations, conduct and communicate research, and work with communities.