A comment on Henry Bernstein's way with peasants, and food sovereignty

McMichael, Philip

doi:10.1080/03066150.2014.936853

Cited by 49 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…These are some of the questions proffered by one line of enquiry that is sceptical about the viability of food sovereignty to feed the whole world (Bernstein ). In response, we concur with McMichael () that to think of the peasantry only as an analytical category is to miss the construction of it as a political category through mobilization. However, we also find Bernstein's questions about how and to what extent socially differentiated producers are able to feed themselves important at the micro‐level, for they can help illuminate the specificity of food sovereignty and the challenges faced in deepening it in incipient contexts.…”

Section: Food Sovereigntysupporting

confidence: 76%

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The Lived Experience of Food Sovereignty: Gender, Indigenous Crops and Small‐Scale Farming in Mtubatuba, South Africa

Ngcoya

Kumarakulasingam

2016

Journal of Agrarian Change

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Food sovereignty has become a powerful concept to critique the dominant global food regime. Although it has not taken root in South Africa as fiercely as elsewhere, we use this concept to explore how one small-scale farmer seeks to wean herself from the dominant food system in the small town of Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal. Using ethnographic methods and in-depth interviews about this single intense and extreme case, we explore this farmer's commitment and argue that it constitutes what we call the 'lived experience of food sovereignty'. If food sovereignty is concerned with small-farmer control over decisions about food cultivation, distribution and consumption, we examine this farmer's praxis and explore the obstacles she faces. These include gendered and racialized agrarian questions, land struggles, social reproduction and perceptions of her indigenous crops. We also examine the networks, knowledge, systems and methods that have allowed her to cultivate her self-reliance. We are also indebted to Ms Fakazile Mthethwa for sharing with us her time, knowledge and attention, and we thank Smanga Khumalo, Mohammed Khan, Nokuthula Ngubane and Menzi Bhengu for research assistance. Garrett Graddy-Lovelace provided excellent feedback on an earlier draft. We also thank the anonymous reviewers of this Journal for their comments and suggestions. bs_bs_banner 1 Subsistence agriculture in Mtubatuba, as elsewhere in the rural hinterlands of South Africa, typically refers to agricultural production on small plots of land, usually for domestic consumption and augmenting other sources of food.In fact, what we have seen in this area is that far from indicating self-sufficiency, in many cases subsistence farming means relying on remittances and social grants not only to buy food but also to cover the monetary expenses of farming (such as buying implements, seeds and paying for transport). On the racialized history of subsistence agriculture in this regard, see Bundy (1979) and Mbeki (1964). 2 Imifino is an isiZulu term for edible wild or weedy leafy green vegetables. The term itself is dynamic and subjective and indicates the importance of a plant for the indigenous peoples using the term.

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Section: Food Sovereigntysupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Our investigation of the manifestation of food sovereignty in the life of an individual farmer is premised on two theoretical insights. First, the peasantry is a historicized condition (McMichael ). As such the nature, possibilities and limitations of peasant agriculture must be situated in relation to historical processes.…”

Section: Food Sovereigntymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Lived Experience of Food Sovereignty: Gender, Indigenous Crops and Small‐Scale Farming in Mtubatuba, South Africa

Ngcoya

Kumarakulasingam

2016

Journal of Agrarian Change

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“…Another important contribution of the nested markets framework lies in the fact that it does not take the stance or speech of food sovereignty and the need to build an autonomous global food model-as has been advocated by some social movements, such as Via Campesina-capable to develop a new world food order, socially just and able to reconnect nature and society, person, and food [40,41].…”

Section: The Nested Markets' Contribution To Rural Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nested Markets, Food Networks, and New Pathways for Rural Development in Brazil

2016

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This paper applies the frameworks of nested markets and alternative food networks to two empirical cases in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, aiming to analyse the construction and dynamics of these markets in order to demonstrate how their dimensions of quality, location, and nature are built and sustained, especially with regard to their interface with broader markets and their contributions to rural development practices, policies, and processes. The paper focuses on the study of rural tourism in Caminhos de Pedra Route, in the municipality of Bento Gonçalves, and the Farmers' Market, in the municipality of Passo Fundo. Both cases represent alternative practices and processes of rural development and bear features that associate them to the nested markets. It is noteworthy that the influence of conventional food markets in these cases shows that nested markets do not operate in isolation but coexist and are continuously in connection with broader agri-food markets. In this sense, despite being subject to criticism and showing limitations, nested markets constitute increasingly robust strategies for rural development practices, processes, and policies, being able to create opportunities for families' livelihood in rural areas.

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“…While there is a long geneology here, see, for example,Brass (2000) and Bernstein this issue. 2 For notable 'populist' critiques of Marxism, seeShanin (1970) andMcMichael (2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Agrarian Marxism

Levien¹,

Watts²,

Hairong³

2018

The Journal of Peasant Studies

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The purpose of this special issue is to advance heterodox reconstructions of agrarian Marxism on the occasion of Marx's 200th birth anniversary. Scholarship on the origins of agrarian capitalism and the contrasts between agrarian and industrial capitalism have been a vital part of debates over and within Marxism for more than a century and have been central to the social scientific and historical understandings of the modern world system. At the same time, since the seminal debates associated with the 'classical agrarian question,' agrarian studies is marked by durable tensions and polarities in theoretical approach. While Marxists have long criticized 'populists' for ignoring capitalism and class, populists have charged Marxists with historical determinism. It is the premise of this special issue that much of this debate has reached something of an impasse. This is in part because new empirical work addressing the complex contemporary patterns and conjunctures of global agrarian capitalism, and because new and generative theoretical reconstructions of Marxism itself, offer exciting new horizons. Contributions to this special issue help point the way beyond this impasse, and illustrate that agrarian Marxism remains a dynamic theoretical program that offers powerful insights into agrarian change and politics in the twentyfirst century.

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A comment on Henry Bernstein's way with peasants, and food sovereignty

Cited by 49 publications

References 42 publications

The Lived Experience of Food Sovereignty: Gender, Indigenous Crops and Small‐Scale Farming in Mtubatuba, South Africa

The Lived Experience of Food Sovereignty: Gender, Indigenous Crops and Small‐Scale Farming in Mtubatuba, South Africa

Nested Markets, Food Networks, and New Pathways for Rural Development in Brazil

Agrarian Marxism

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