Food provisioning
The Rural Sociology Group studies diverse forms of food provisioning, alternative food economies, and food governance in rural and urban settings. Recognising the diversity of food production systems, we investigate the ways in which food is produced, distributed, consumed, and governed in place-based contexts. Examples include studies on food-sharing networks, urban gardens and food aid in diverse geographical and political contexts like the Netherlands, Eastern and Western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Within these explorations, we approach food as a site of complex social meanings, cultural traditions, social-economic relations and political contestations. Our work addresses critiques of the modernisation, globalisation and industrialisation of food systems, and explores alternative pathways.
The problems plaguing food systems are well researched. A growing global population, negative ecological and climatic impacts, growing inequity, and urbanization, are all expected to contribute to a food insecure future that risks exceeding social and planetary boundaries. In response to this, our research embraces a normative standpoint which brings forward transformations towards more sustainable and just food futures, while making visible and amplifying practices that align with these visions.
Our research often starts at the level of everyday realities, where we explore how social practices evolve in interaction between food environments and people’s agency. For example, through the notion of foodscapes, we connect these interactions to their material, social and institutional environment. We are interested in the diverse economic and social relations through which food is provisioned, distributed, shared and commoned, and the ways in which such practices point to more just socio-economic arrangements. Our research is sensitive to power dynamics as we investigate the governance and policy forms that advance, or restrict, transformations towards more equitable food systems. We strive to contribute to these food system transformations through our education, public engagement, creative methodologies and transdisciplinary collaborations.
