Despite the unprecedented attention paid to the sharing economy and despite the growing interest in household food production, the non-market and non-monetised sharing of home-grown food -a social practice at the intersection of these two concerns -has so far largely escaped scholars' attention. The goal of the article is twofold. First, drawing on a large-scale survey (2058 respondents) and four focus groups conducted in the Czech Republic in 2015, the article shows that in the Global North the sharing of homegrown food is a surprisingly widespread and economically and environmentally significant practice. Second, the article to some extent aims to break with the research tradition that deems studies conducted in the periphery of the Global North lacking in potential to produce more generally valid insights. It therefore seeks to counter the scripting of Eastern Europe on the margins of the geographies of knowledge production. The article contests the causal link between economic hardship and informal food practices, views these practices as sustainability by outcome rather than intention, and suggests they are compatible with the tenets of alternative food networks. While not perceived as sites of outright resistance to capitalism, these spaces are viewed by practitioners as constituting valuable domains of socially and culturally motivated human interactions, driven by the desire for fresh and healthy food, fulfilling personal hobbies, and the development of enjoyable social ties.Introduction: the lack of research on the informal sharing economy in the Global North T here is a curious blind spot at the intersection of two currently growing bodies of literature -the frenzy over the 'sharing' alternatives to the mainstream economic model on the one hand and the growing attention given to informal food V
Word count (body of text including tables and footnotes): 7716 What is the contribution of food self-provisioning for environmental sustainability? Case study of active gardeners
Resilience and food self-provisioning (FSP), terms that until recently were deployed primarily in the study of livelihoods in the Global South, are now attracting attention from alternative food scholarship in the Global North. Drawing on a large-scale survey conducted in the Czech Republic, this paper investigates FSP as a social resilienceenhancing set of practices. In addition to the traditional reading of FSP as a passive, defensive, crisis-deflecting form of resilience, this paper puts forward an alternative conceptualization of resilience as a proactive, preventative, future-oriented and transformation-enabling capacity that runs counter to the tenets of neoliberalism.
This study contributes to research proposing the ethics of care framework as a way of imagining a food system that cares for Others. We expand this exploration to the everyday practice of home gardening and the related social relationships and material flows. This area complements current scholarship, which mostly focuses on food-related care as a form of activism driven by intentionality and knowledge about the effects of consumption choices. Combining a survey of a representative sample of the population and an in-depth qualitative study, our paper highlights the importance of inconspicuous but materially significant food self-provisioning and sharing practices as caring behaviors that do not rely on educational campaigns but draw on the desire to produce healthy food for human Others. Home grown food is distributed in the generalized reciprocity mode within wide food-sharing networks. The desire to produce healthy food further translates into the adoption of caring methods of cultivation that benefit non-human Others involved in the garden ecosystems.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the risk perceptions and activities of people to reduce impacts of disaster. Design/methodology/approach Case study research has been conducted in village Podhradí nad Dyjí in the Dyje river basin in Czech Republic. Villagers from different age groups, experts, NGO members have been interviewed to understand people’s perceptions of flood risks and their actions. Findings The research has found that changing flood insurance policy influenced people’s risk perception. There is also increasing self-dependency among people to reduce impacts of disaster. They come together to support each other and develop collectivities in managing disaster. People’s actions and willingness to participate in disaster management activities change with distance from the river bank. Research limitations/implications The village identified for the case study research has been affected by floods after implementation of the Crisis Management Act No. 240/2000 Coll. The findings of the study are influenced by geographical location of the municipality and cannot be generalised in the Czech Republic. Practical implications The research has listed physical as well as socio-economic and cultural indicators of risk perception in the Czech Republic. These indicators and outcomes should help to assess and identify the gaps in reducing impacts of floods. Originality/value The study has revealed the interconnection between physical, socio-economic, and cultural factors of risk perception after implementing the Crisis Management Act No. 240/2000 Coll. and changing strategies in disaster management in the Czech Republic.
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