TY - JOUR
T1 - Shifting plates in the agrifood landscape
T2 - The tectonics of alternative agrifood initiatives in California
AU - Allen, Patricia
AU - FitzSimmons, Margaret
AU - Goodman, Michael
AU - Warner, Keith
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the representatives of the organizations we interviewed for their time, thought, and commitment. We are also grateful for the constructive comments of David Goodman and three anonymous reviewers on an earlier draft of this paper. This research was funded by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and by the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. The views presented in the paper are the responsibility of the authors.
PY - 2003/1
Y1 - 2003/1
N2 - Alternative food initiatives are appearing in many places. Observers suggest that they share a political agenda: to oppose the structures that coordinate and globalize the current food system and to create alternative systems of food production that are environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and socially just. This paper examines the potential of these initiatives through the lens of the concepts of 'alternative and oppositional' social movements and 'militant particularism and global ambition' developed by Raymond Williams and David Harvey. The three sections of this paper review (1) the current discussion of common themes and strategies in agrifood initiatives within the academic literature; (2) the history of these initiatives in California; and (3) results of our interviews with 37 current leaders of California organizations. We suggest that further understanding these initiatives, and success in the goals of the initiatives themselves, requires us to look past their similarities to examine their differences. These differences are related to the social forms and relations that have been established in the places from which these initiatives arise. 'Social justice,' in particular, may be difficult to construct at a 'local' scale.
AB - Alternative food initiatives are appearing in many places. Observers suggest that they share a political agenda: to oppose the structures that coordinate and globalize the current food system and to create alternative systems of food production that are environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and socially just. This paper examines the potential of these initiatives through the lens of the concepts of 'alternative and oppositional' social movements and 'militant particularism and global ambition' developed by Raymond Williams and David Harvey. The three sections of this paper review (1) the current discussion of common themes and strategies in agrifood initiatives within the academic literature; (2) the history of these initiatives in California; and (3) results of our interviews with 37 current leaders of California organizations. We suggest that further understanding these initiatives, and success in the goals of the initiatives themselves, requires us to look past their similarities to examine their differences. These differences are related to the social forms and relations that have been established in the places from which these initiatives arise. 'Social justice,' in particular, may be difficult to construct at a 'local' scale.
KW - Alternative
KW - Alternative food systems
KW - Oppositional
KW - Social movements
KW - Urban Agriculture
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U2 - 10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00047-5
DO - 10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00047-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037215687
SN - 0743-0167
VL - 19
SP - 61
EP - 75
JO - Journal of Rural Studies
JF - Journal of Rural Studies
IS - 1
ER -