Bricolage for Self‐Sufficiency: An Analysis of Alternative Food Networks

Abstract

In this article the bricolage concept is applied to compare the organisational dynamics of two alternative food networks (AFNs) in Riga and Bristol respectively. It is argued that bricolage is a useful concept to understand the dynamics of AFNs. The concept 'bricolage' refers to the free use of any materials at hand. Bricoleurs accept that these materials might not be ideal, but nevertheless use them as long as they offer characteristics that help to reach the AFN goals (which, for the AFNs featured in this article, are establishing a functioning farmers' market, and founding a market garden). Such use of 'what fits' and 'what's at hand' may lead to new and unexpected ways how these initiatives operate. The article argues that bricolage is a liberating concept in the organisational study of AFNs because it frames them as characteristically dynamic and constantly active in relation to changes in local contexts. Bricolage thus helps determine the nature of AFN dynamism.

Farming Resilience: From Maintaining States towards Shaping Transformative Change Processes

“…While an engineering approach assumes that the world is orderly and thus affords formal planning, specified goals, and clear strategies to achieve them, bricolage is based on an intimate knowledge of the resources available acquired over time, and the ability to make use of potentials for associations. Bricolage is "an assemblage work that goes beyond preestablished planning and leads to the production of new situated knowledges, objects and associations" [107] (p. 300); it is a continuous process of intertwining doing and making sense (see [105,108,109]). Thus, while farmers certainly have aims and goals, e.g., regarding quality of life and preferred farming practices, how these are realized remains open to opportunities as they emerge, and they may well change based on experiences and learning processes.…”

Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Edge: Evidence from CSA Members and Farmers on Local Food Marketing Strategies

“…Indeed, we know little about these two aspects despite the mounting evidence of competitive pressures that will likely have important implications for farmers. Recent studies indicate that farmers participating in local food systems face an "entrepreneurial treadmill", requiring the continuous development of new strategies to entice customers [21] and use "bricolage" (improvisation with scarce and often eclectic resources at hand) to maintain self-sufficiency [39], which raises important questions about the social and economic sustainability of these enterprises.…”

Thinking food like an East European: A critical reflection on the framing of food systems

“…While alternative food scholarship has been an exceptionally productive research field since 2000, more recently these debates, increasingly critical of AFNs' capacity to transform the food system (e.g. Tregear, 2011;Sonnino and Griggs-Trevarthen, 2013;Grivins et al, 2017), have been conspicuously unreflective in relation to two important and interrelated questions. The first question concerns the provenance of academic concepts and theories in alternative agro-food scholarship (i.e.…”