Feola, G. (2026). Broadening the Understanding of Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces. In: Sareen, S., Juhola, S. (eds) Societal Transitions to Sustainability. Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation, Transition and Accountability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-07395-2_7 Abstract. Social scientists have often studied grassroots initiatives in terms of prefiguration, which has generated important insights into the construction of…

Feola, G., 2025.  Beyond Refusal: Reconceptualising Deconstruction in Prefigurative Social Spaces. Sociologica 19(3), 159-185. Abstract. Social scientists have often studied grassroots initiatives in terms of prefiguration, generating important insights into the construction of alternatives to capitalism. However, the role of deconstructive processes, such as the refusal to engage with capitalist logics and relations, remains debated…

Spanier, J., 2025. Radical rural place-making? Agricultural grassroots initiatives in the everyday negotiation of the European countryside. Journal of Rural Studies 118, 103676.   Abstract. In the context of capitalist and conservative renderings of European countrysides, ‘radical rural’ initiatives (Halfacree, 2007) have received increasing attention. Agricultural grassroots initiatives (AGIs), although acknowledged for their contribution to post-capitalist…

Fiore, F., Feola, G., Piló, F., (in press). Grassroots Initiatives as Political Actors: Scaling, Capture and Constituency in Food Policy Councils. Environmental Policy and Governance. Abstract Grassroots initiatives (GIs) play a crucial role in driving sustainability transitions. They adopt different approaches to exert impact through multi-stakeholder governance platforms, such as ‘scaling up’, ‘scaling through’ and…

Smessaert, J., Feola, G., 2025. On the practices and possibilities of autonomous more-than-human political communities. Journal of Political Ecology 32(1): 5942. Abstract This article analyzes how autonomous more-than-human political communities emerge in practice. We study an agro-ecosystem in the Catalan Sub-Pyrenees, where a peasant land use cooperative runs a regenerative farm. Through interviews and observations, we map…

Spanier, J., 2025. What does it mean to nurture ‘good intentions between city and country’? Performances of rural–urban relations in community-supported agriculture. Geoforum 159, 104211.   Abstract: As community-supported agriculture (CSA) comprises a direct relationship between food producers and consumers, scholars and activists have pointed out its potential to improve rural–urban relations. This paper explores…

Raj, G., Feola, G., 2025. Becoming community economy: how community-supported agriculture diversifies farm labour. Local Environment.   Abstract: Analyses of diverse and community economies have formed a fruitful basis for studying postcapitalist possibilities in agrifood systems and the economy. However, diverse economies scholarship has foregrounded the study of the economic diversity landscape encountered and sustained in community…

Feola, G., 2025. Postgrowth food systems: critique, visions, pathways. Degrowth Journal 3, 00278.   Abstract: Sustainable food systems are essential for societies to be able to thrive within planetary boundaries. Multiple visions compete to cast light on the future of food production and consumption worldwide. However, it has become difficult for many to imagine pathways to…

On 28 November 2024 Julia Spanier successfully defended her PhD thesis titled ‘A rural(–urban) perspective: Agricultural grassroots initiatives and the making of post-capitalist futures’. Abstract. This PhD thesis explores the role of agricultural grassroots initiatives (AGIs) in societal transformations away from the capitalist status quo. AGIs are bottom-up, small-scale alternatives that exist within (and in…

Julia Spanier, Leonie Guerrero Lara and Jacob Smessaert co-authored a new paper titled ‘Building solidarities and alliances between degrowth and food sovereignty movements‘ (Journal of Political Ecology). Degrowth and food sovereignty movements share commitments to social-ecological transformation, democracy and the flourishing of human and non-human life. Encounters between the two movements have been relatively limited, however….