Reclaiming seeds of resistance: amplifying narratives of reform in the U.S. food system

Marbury, Brian W. (2017) Reclaiming seeds of resistance: amplifying narratives of reform in the U.S. food system. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates how contemporary US food justice organizations challenge and attempt to transform the current US food and agriculture structure. In this study I contribute a theoretical framework rooted in social transformation theory and food regime analysis. Food regime scholarship tends to focus on the international political economy, concentrating on the relationship between global capital and global social movements. Thus, the role of state intervention at the national level and US-based social movements are currently under-theorized.In Part I of this thesis, I situate the development of US agriculture policy in the food regime literature, drawing on Polanyi’s concept of a double movement to illuminate a dialectical relationship between policies of marketization and social reform. Further, I explore the marketization and impact of immaterial labor, like green certifications and intellectual property rights, on contemporary social movements and the food system. In Part II, I examine the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Food First, and WhyHunger to explore how current organizations envision social change and the strategies they adopt to create transformation. In particular, I bring attention to the importance of interstitial strategies to contemporary US food justice organizations, while illuminating the tension between their vision and strategy for social change.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Food movements; Immaterial labor; Karl Polanyi; Resistance; Social transformation; U.S. Food and Agriculture
Subjects:	J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Social and Behavioral Science > Sustainable Communities
Date Deposited:	21 Mar 2018 05:48
URI:	http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/5096

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