New paper: Becoming‐Interdependent: Democratic Praxis In‐Against‐and‐Beyond Capitalism in Agrifood Collectives

Smessaert, J., Feola, G., (in press). Becoming-interdependent: democratic praxis in-against-and-beyond capitalism in agrifood collectives. Antipode.

Abstract. This paper contributes to debates on autonomous geographies by fore-grounding and analysing democratic praxis in two grassroots agrifood collectives to interrogate the ways in which it constitutes a vehicle for postcapitalist transformation. We focus on the negotiation and (re)distribution of power (Case Study 1) and the politicisation of ambiguous human–more-than-human entanglements (Case Study 2) and find that the dynamics and frictions these collectives experience can be understood as diverse processes of becoming-interdependent. Becoming-interdependent refers to a collective recognition of existing and emerging relationships and dependencies(amongst human people as well as between humans and more-than-human actors) andefforts to continuously navigate these. Based on these insights, we discuss tensions between capitalist–postcapitalist realities and making–unmaking in grassroots collectives. We conclude by conceptualising becoming-interdependent as a deliberate response tothe separations and abstractions inscribed in capitalism and by connecting it to debates on strategies for postcapitalist transformation.

Keywords: postcapitalism, transformation, autonomy, more-than-human politics