Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
requires us not just to enjoy the incredible bounty our markets have to offer—the rows
of organic melons, the pounds of fair-trade coffee, the deliciousness of locally grown
apples—but to also question the outcome of our collective and accumulated consump-
tion decisions.
Notes
1. We acknowledge that food politics includes a wide range of issues, in addition to the
consumption end of commodity chains. Debates also extend to agricultural production,
including debates on agricultural subsidies and international trade agreements. Our
usage of the term “politics” is not restricted to the formal political realm (e.g., regulatory
decisions, voting, and elected representation), but also includes the desire to transform
existing power relations and hierarchical patterns of authority. This usage draws from
historical-materialist, feminist, and post-structuralist insights. From historical-materialist
perspectives, power is evidenced not in individual action, but through a capacity to
make change and transform material structures, and, conversely, through the absence
of change—“securing the continuity of social relations rather than producing radi-
cal change.” (Jessop 2001, 8; Harvey 1996, 54-55). From feminist and post-structuralist
perspectives, “private” consumption acts of social reproduction, usually considered in
opposition to the formal political realm, have important connections to economies and
governance. From here, we see that consumption decisions are embedded in power rela-
tions, and we are encouraged to study the interconnections between social reproduction
and public structures of political authority and ownership (e.g., Katz 2003).
2. There are many terms that can be used to describe the contemporary “politics of the plate,”
including ethical consumption, conscientious consumption, alternative consumption,
critical consumption, and political consumption. Bracketing debates about the various
pros and cons of varied terminologies, we use the terms “food politics” and “political food
consumers” to focus attention on the question of consumer politics we raise here.
References
Alkon, A., and C. McCullen. 2010. “Whiteness and Farmers Markets:  Performances,
Perpetuations . . . Contestations?” Antipode 43 (4): 937-959.
Allen, P., and M. Kovach. 2000. The Capitalist Composition of Organic:  The Potential of
Markets in Fulfilling the Promise of Organic Agriculture.” Agriculture and Human Values
17:221-232.
Barnett, C., P. Cloke, N. Clarke, and A. Malpass. 2005. “Consuming Ethics: Articulating the
Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption.” Antipode 37:23-45.
Belasco, W. J. 1989. Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took on the Food Industry,
1966-1988 . New York: Pantheon.
Bittman, M. 2008. Food Matters:  A  Guide to Conscious Eating with More than 75 Recipes .
Toronto: Simon & Shuster.
Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction:  A  Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
 
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