A Call for contributions to a session on agroecology transitions at the meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in Washington D.C. (April 3-7, 2019) https://annualmeeting.aag.org
Abstract Submission Deadline for AAG: October 21, 2018.
Agroecology is a radical alternative to the dominant approaches to food and water systems and is poised to meet the urgent need for dramatic changes in agriculture and food systems. Especially over the last five years, agroecology has rapidly been adopted by scientists, governments, the FAO, farmer organisations and food producers around the world. It is gaining legitimacy as a way to address climate change, confront food and nutrition insecurity, meet the SDGs and to realize food sovereignty.
Agroecology promotes functional biodiversity and nutrient cycling and is based on circular systems that mimic natural ecosystems. It can help cool the planet and improve the livelihoods and autonomy of food providers. Agroecology emphasizes the collective knowledge of food providers and indigenous peoples, and emphasizes transforming the social, cultural, economic and political structures that are viewed as the root causes of the multiple crises in the food system. Thus, there is growing interest in the potential of agroecology in the transitions towards sustainable and just food systems.
Yet, the question of how to transition towards just and sustainable food systems through agroecology requires further thought and strategizing in light of recent changes in political opportunities, grassroots experimentation and innovation, social movement mobilization and the deeply entrenched industrial-corporate food regime.
This session will include contributions that examine different aspects of transitions and transformations in food systems through agroecology. Contributions will address processes that are variously referred to as amplification, massification, scaling up, scaling out, scaling deep, transitions or transformations. In addition to this broad framing for the session, we invite proposals for contributions that:
- Analyses the spatial dynamics of transition processes – focusing on territorial, national and international and cross-scalar processes
- Engage with the sustainability transitions literature or other critical frameworks on transition processes
- Analyse the roles of multiple actors in transitions including farmers, social movements, private sector, consumers, researchers and more
- Examine the politics of difference, inequity, exclusion, privilege, decoloniality, etc. in transition processes
- Interrogate the role of the state, policies and/or institutions in transition processes
- Emphasise and offer new analyses on social movements and transition
- Develop linkages between transitions in food systems and other related transitions (energy, waste, etc.)
- Focus on the links between transition and democracy
- Critically apply Marxist, anarchist, feminist or other critical frameworks to transition
- Makes sense of the difference between transition and transformation processes – or that contest the notion of ‘transition’ itself
- Examine agroecology within debates on rural-urban linkages and critically examine the potential of urban agroecology
- Address other related topics, drawing from case studies in different regions of the world and that bring multiple perspectives and voices into the work.
Contributions in this session may be invited to be a part of a special journal issue. Please see www.agroecologynow.com
To participate in this session, please submit an abstract (of 250 words or less) by October 21, 2018 tocolin.anderson@coventry.ac.ukand jahi.chappell@coventry.ac.uk.
Note: The AAG requires that all participants in pre-organized sessions be registered for the conference and submit their abstracts by Oct. 25th. We will ask those confirmed for the session to register for the conference, submit their abstract online, and send us your program identification number (PIN) by Oct. 25th at the latest. For more information: https://annualmeeting.aag.org