Routledge Handbook Of Food As A Commons

Abstract

From the scientific and industrial revolution to the present day, food -an essential element of life -has been progressively transformed into a private, transnational, mono-dimensional commodity of mass consumption for a global market. But over the last decade there has been an increased recognition that this can be challenged and reconceptualized if food is regarded and enacted as a commons.This Handbook provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of knowledge and new thinking on how food and food systems can be thought, interpreted and practiced around the old/new paradigms of commons and commoning. The overall aim is to investigate the multiple constraints that occur within and sustain the dominant food and nutrition regime and to explore how it can change when different elements of the current food systems are explored and re-imagined from a commons perspective. Chapters do not define the notion of commons but engage with different schools of thought:First published 2019 by Routledge

Diverse Seeds – Shared Practices: Conceptualizing Seed Commons

“…Relationships and values within Commons communities are assessed regarding their transformative potential, as they protest existing institutions by creating living alternatives (Sato & Soto Alarcón 2019;Tummers & MacGregor 2019). Food Commons in particular have been described as a counter-hegemonic movement against neoliberalist tendencies of commodification and enclosure (Vivero-Pol et al 2018).…”

“…Finally, 'sharing of knowledge' largely depends on local social mechanisms of knowledge transmission and social learning, especially concerning Traditional Agroecological Knowledge (Sievers-Glotzbach et al, forthcoming). Taken together, the Seed Commons criteria can be understood as social practices of Commoning, which challenge dominant paradigms of individual property and technological innovation (see Vivero-Pol et al 2018). As of now, their transformative impact is still limited, but the building of robustness, the strengthening of networks and on-going advocacy for the change of policies could enhance their transformative potential (see Sievers-Glotzbach & Tschersich, 2019).…”

“…To achieve these objectives, we apply a transdisciplinary research process that integrates diverse types of knowledge, both from practical actors (German and Philippine seed initiatives, companies and NGOs), and the scientific community. Determining Seed Commons criteria in a transdisciplinary approach helps to bridge the gap between practitioners and scholarly communities, which has been identified as an ongoing challenge in commons research (van Laerhoven, Schoon, and Villamayor-Tomas 2020), and specifically helps to incorporate the meanings, experiential knowledge, and normative perspectives of Commoners (see Vivero-Pol et al 2018). This methodology is essential when aiming to link resource and practice-oriented approaches of Commons (ibid.).…”