Bridging divides: Constructing food sovereignty in Australia

Abstract

This paper presents an in-depth account of the motivations that inspired the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance to engage food sovereignty for food system change. Pointing to the tensions between the theory and practice of food sovereignty, we highlight the challenges of mobilizing food sovereignty within highly urbanized, consumer-dominated settings. We argue the need to overcome the dominant role of producers in constructing food sovereignty to open up spaces of action for the non-producing population. The spirit of solidarity food sovereignty has inspired needs to be held up and further expanded to build even stronger and lasting alliances between diverse actors.

Biographical Note

Sarah Ruth Sippel (SFB 1199 & Leipzig University, Germany)

Sarah Ruth Sippel is a lecturer at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and a Principal Investigator at the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1199. Her research interests concern the complex nature of the global agri-food system, particularly questions in relation to food security, the financialization of agriculture and food, and the alternatives that are being developed to the current agri-food system. All these issues raise important questions in relation to politics, ethics, and social justice, which motivate her research. As a human geographer with a background in Middle Eastern Studies and Philosophy, Sarah investigates social phenomena from an interdisciplinary and transregional perspective. She intensively worked on the interlinkages between export agriculture, rural livelihood security, and labour migration in North Africa and the Western Mediterranean. Her current research addresses the diverse (re)imaginations of land in Australia.

Nicolette Larder (University of New England, USA)

Nicolette Larder is a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of New England. Her research agenda revolves around the social dynamics of the global agri-food system and the myriad ways people engage with and make sense of the act of food production. Within this broad scope work to date has engaged food producers from varying backgrounds across urban and rural settings and always with the intention of unraveling how food production fits within and contributes to broader social and environmental crises such as land and water scarcity, food insecurity and social inequality. She draws from a wide range of theoretical influences to explore diverse productive environments and producers including political economy, community economies, social movement studies, gender studies and most recently financialisation. Dr Larder has conducted research in Australia and internationally in Mali, Senegal, the UK, and Germany and she is trained in qualitative research approaches including extended fieldwork and cross-cultural research. Current research projects explore the changing nature and character of agriculture in Australia as practiced by investment banks, sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms, with a particular focus on the motivations and changing labour relations associated with financialisation. Future research plans include exploration of the financial literacy of food producers, a comparative study of food sovereignty movements in Australia and North Africa and an evaluation of urban food-banks in Australia.