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…

By Leonie Guerrero Lara and Julia Spanier  Alternative food movements are white spaces Alternative food movements have been repeatedly called out for being primarily white spaces, particularly from scholars and activists in the US-American context (Slocum 2006; Guthman 2008). The term white spaces does not only refer to ‘the presence of pale-skinned bodies’ (Alkon and…

Raj, G. (in press). Selective, reciprocal and quiet: Lessons from rural queer empowerment in community-supported agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values.   Abstract. Rural queer studies, viewed through the lens of relational agriculture, offer critiques of heteropatriarchal norms in farming and highlight strategies used by queer farmers to manoeuvre discrimination and thrive in rural areas. This…

Frank, L., Feola., G., Schäpke, N., 2024. Assessing regime destabilisation through policy change: An analysis of agricultural policy in the United Kingdom during Brexit. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 50, 100810.   Abstract In sustainability transitions research, the deliberate destabilisation of socio-technical regimes is increasingly recognised as a central intervention point. Absent, however, are granular approaches for assessing…

Raj, G., Feola, G. & Runhaar, H. Work in progress: power in transformation to postcapitalist work relations in community–supported agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10486-8   Abstract. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) initiatives are spaces where diverse work relations are performed. From a postcapitalist perspective, these initiatives attempt to create alternative-capitalist and non-capitalist work relations next to…

Spanier, J., Guerrero Lara, L., Feola, G., (in press). A one-sided love affair? On the potential for a coalition between degrowth and community-supported agriculture in Germany. Agriculture and Human Values, DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10462-2 Abstract: Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a grassroots response to the threat the global industrial agri-food system poses to smallholders. The degrowth community, calling for a…

Jacob Smessaert and Julia Spanier published an essay in the Political Ecology platform Undisciplined Environments. The essay, titled ‘What can degrowth bring to food system transformation beyond capitalism?‘ discusses the following questions: Can degrowth theory contribute valuable new perspectives to the thinking and doing of food system transformations beyond capitalism in the Global North? Or…

Yesterday Jacob Smessaert and Giuseppe Feola published a new paper in Environmental Values with the title “Beyond Statism and Deliberation: Questioning Ecological Democracy through Eco-Anarchism and Cosmopolitics”. The paper can be found with this link: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/ev/pre-prints/content-whp_ev_3565    

The UNMAKING team is happy to share two papers that were published in the first part of January 2023. The paper titled Degrowth and Agri-Food Systems: A Research Agenda for the Critical Social Sciences, led by Leonie Guerrero Lara, has appeared in the journal Sustainability Science (link here). The paper titled Unlearning in sustainability transitions:…

Spanier, J., Feola, G. 2022. Nurturing the post-growth city: bringing the rural back in. In: Savini, F., Ferreria, A., von Schönfeld, K. C. (Eds.)  Post-Growth Planning: cities beyond the market economy. Routledge, 159-172.  Abstract It is widely acknowledged that cities are destructive to the environment and the natural resources that sustain human and non-human life (Næss et al., 2020). Any planning for post-growth…