UNMAKING: a research programme on the disruption of capitalism in societal transformation to sustainability

Welcome to the website of the research programme UNMAKING. Grassroots initiatives may hold the potential to transform society toward sustainability. This project will use a novel interdisciplinary theory and an innovative combination of methods to explain whether, when and how agri-food grassroots initiatives unmake environmentally disruptive institutions and practices that are deeply ingrained in capitalist societies.

An overview of the research programme can be accessed here while more detailed information on the research programme and its subprojects can be found here.

Leadership

This programme is led by Dr. Giuseppe Feola and hosted by the Section of Environmental Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.

Funding

This research programme consists of two separate, but parallel projects funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through a Vidi Research Grant, and by the European Research Council (ERC) through a Starting Grant, respectively.

News

10 June 2026

Giuseppe Feola preents at Grassroots Innovation webinar

On 9 June, Giuseppe Feola presented the paper ‘Beyond Refusal: Reconceptualizing Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces‘ at the ...

07 June 2026

New paper/Nuovo articolo: (Dis)fare comunità in zone rurali nei Quaderni della decrescita

G. Feola, G. Raj, J. Smessaert and J. Spanier published the paper ‘(Dis)fare comunità in zone rurali: riflessioni su tre percorsi di trasformazione ...

24 May 2026

Giuseppe Feola presents at ‘Settimana del consumo consapevole’

On 23 May, Giuseppe Feola presented at the ‘Settimana del consumo consapevole’ in Carpi. The discussion was hosted at the Community Supported ...

22 May 2026

Julia Spanier presents at Wageningen University

On 21 May Julia Spanier gave the seminar ‘Surviving within capitalism: “peri-capitalist” agri-food initiatives in Germany and the Netherlands’ at the ...

01 February 2026

New book chapter: Broadening the Understanding of Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces

Feola, G. (2026). Broadening the Understanding of Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces. In: Sareen, S., Juhola, S. (eds) Societal Transitions to ...

22 December 2025

New paper: Beyond Refusal: Reconceptualising Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces

Feola, G., 2025. Beyond Refusal: Reconceptualising Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces. Sociologica 19(3), 159-185. Abstract. Social scientists ...

26 November 2025

Guilherme Raj presents at ‘Grassroots Innovation’ webinar

It is about power! Unveiling power and empowerment in grassroots agri-food initiatives. Grassroots Innovations Webinar, Sustainability Transitions Research ...

05 September 2025

Giuseppe Feola presents keynote talk at EURAC

Sustainability transformation: critical perspectives in times of discord. Keynote talk. Social Sciences for Climate Change: From Knowledge to Action, Eurac ...

10 June 2025

Giuseppe Feola presents keynote at Policy Lab workshop in Brussels

Grassroots initiatives in the context of postgrowth thinking. Keynote talk. Policy Lab Workshop titled “Grass-Root Transformations for Beyond Growth”, ...

05 June 2025

Giuseppe Feola presents keynote talk at Food Studies Lab, University of Turin

Riflessioni sui percorsi di trasformazione post-crescita dei sistemi agroalimentari. Food Studies Lab, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, ...

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