|
Sources and Mechanisms of Power in the Global Food
System and in Rural Sites: Domination,
Counter-Domination and Alternatives
Wageningen, August 19th-20th, 2007
Convenors
Alberto Arce (alberto.arce@wur.nl)
Tomiko Yamaguchi (tyamaguc@icu.ac.jp)
Purpose
In recent years institutions such as the state, multinationals, fair-trade
organisations, and a diverse range of quality and social standards have
led to the restructuring of socio-economic and ecological patterns in rural
areas. This transformation has proceeded at an impressive pace; however,
change has not taken an unidirectional path.
Both de-peasantisation and re-peasantisation have occurred: new sites of
production have been established and long food chains are increasingly
‘challenged’ by local food systems. Some areas undergo processes of specialisation
and others follow a contrary trend towards diversification and de-skillisation.
New patterns of domination – from forms of strict quality contracts to
refined patterns of ‘control at a distance’– have emerged while giving
birth to new patterns of resistance: concerns about animal welfare, the
politics of denial, and types of ambiguous food commodity consumption.
In these processes new actors are becoming involved in food, rural politics
and environmental concerns, while organisations and institutions are searching
for innovative actions and alternatives. Diverse modes of ‘ordering’ and
‘disordering’ are affecting rural places, urban-rural patterns, food production
and consumption seems to depend on combinations of markets, civil society
and state occurring locally and on those emergent links they establish
with the global ‘realities’ outside the consumption choices field.
In this context, power is embodied within social relations, knowledge and
organisational legitimacy. This raises the question of whether it is possible
to start from an analysis of power to understand the new rural trends and
patterns? Are vertical control power and horizontal incorporation of actions
and knowledge incompatible? What are the sources of power in specific food
systems and rural areas? Who are the actors involved and how are power
conflicts are manifested? What types of power (for example, ‘soft’ and
‘hard’power) prevail and how are they combined? How are types of centralised
power turned into other types of power, like consumer preferences for quality
and safety? How are mechanisms of domination reproduced or changed? What
are the modern ‘weapons’ or ‘poetry’ of the weak’? How can dominance and
resistance be detected and measured by agro-food researchers? Is it possible
to re-conceptualise the space and place of food and rural sites?
The RC-40 mini-conference will explore these issues, giving particular
attention to the ‘context specificity’ of trends, patterns and outcomes,
while looking with particular attention to the implications for agricultural,
rural livelihoods and social development policies. Scholars are encouraged
to submit papers on this encompassing topic both from theoretical and empirical
perspectives.
Tentative Program
Venue: Kolkakker (1st Floor), Wageningen International Conference Center,
Lawickse Alee 9, LN 6701, AN Wageningen
Participation Fee: 10 EURO per person for two days; to be collected at the entrance
(Exempt: paper presenters, convenors, graduate students)
19 August (Sunday) 2:00 pm through 3:20 pm
Dominance and Resistance in the Rural Arena
Flaminia Ventura & Pierluigi Milone
“Farmer’s Power and the Bottom-up Process”
Robert Diego Quintana
“Empowerment and Participation of Social Actors in Rural Development Experiences: What seems to be the issue?”
Maria Laura Viteri
“A Little Country: Buenos Aires Wholesale Market”
Marta G. Rivera-Ferre
“Supply vs. Demand of Agroindustrial Meat and Fish Products: A Chicken and Egg Paradigm?”
19 August (Sunday) 3:30 pm through 4:50 pm
Social Relations, Knowledge and Governance
Marco Bertaglia
“Networks of Knowledge, the Power Context in Pesticide Lock-in, and the Transition towards Sustainable Agricultural Systems.”
Yolanda Cristina Massieu Trigo
“New Biopower and Labour in Export Agriculture in Mexico”
Riccardo Bocci
“Seeds Struggle in Europe and its Implication for the Agricultural Research System”
Caryn N. Abrahams
“Fetishised Consumption: New Commandeer of the Agrofood Discourse?”
19 August (Sunday) 5:00 pm through 6:00 pm
Emerging Patterns of Global and Local Food Systems
Joachim Ewert and Stefano Ponte
“‘Hands off’ does not Mean a Loss of Control: Processes of Control in the Governance of the International Value Chain for South African Wine.”
Hilary Tovey
“Power and Resistance around Sustainable Rural Development: ‘Local Food’ Actors in Co.Tipperary, Ireland.
Sans P., Cerruit R. and de Fontguyon G.
“Debating Conventionalisation and New Power Dynamics in Rural Networks. Insights from Organic Beef Marketing Initiatives in France and Italy”
20 August (Monday) 2:00 pm through 3:30
Reconceptualisation of Rural Spaces and Places
Mara Miele, Terry Marsden, Diego Pinducciu, Antonella Ara, and Selyf Morgan
“New Networks in Rural Europe: Building Emotional Ties with Consumers for Fostering A More Multifunctional Agriculture”
Ivonne Vizcarra Bordi
“Gender, Poverty and Food Security as Seen by Social Policies in Mexico”
Ioanna Papastathopoulou
“Managing Change: The Case of Tenos Island Cyclades-Hellas”
Sietze Vellema, Budsara Limnirankul, Comfort Kudadjie
“What Makes Contract Farming Robust?”
20 August (Monday) 4:00 pm through 5:30
Power and Control in Agrofood Systems
Charles Mather
“The Industrial Chicken in South Africa’s Modernising Food Economy”
Kae Sekine and Shuji Hisano
“Can Agribusiness Intervention Help Japanese Farmers out of the Crumbling Rural Economy?: A Case Study of Dole Japan’s Fresh Vegetable Business”
Craig Harris
“Got milk? Got control? The Contestation over Unpasteurized Milk in the United States”
Roberta Sonnino
“Sustainable Local Food Systems: Assessing the Power of the Public Sector”
Important Note: Conference will run for two days, because we have received and accepted more papers than originally planned. If you face conflict in schedule, kindly let us know.
A full paper should be sent to: Masashi Tachikawa (tachi@affrc.go.jp)
Deadline for submission of papers: 15 May 2007
|
