The Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) dialogues at Passau University aims to share insights from research projects and engagements with alternative food and economic practices in Indonesia, India and Germany; with the hope to stimulate conversation about what constitutes ‘alternative’ agriculture or food consumption and why it matters. Ideas and voices from ongoing field research will give a glimpse into the multitude of alternatives that are responding to unjust food systems, and challenging dominant modes of consumer and market-driven food production and consumption. Through a critical FPE lens we aim to discuss the power dynamics within socio-ecological relations of food production and consumption, and how this shapes what constitutes an ‘alternative practice’, whilst also showcasing the knowledges of farmers and food activists.
Dates: 1 – 2 July 2021, 16.00-18.00 CEST each day
Language: English with German and Indonesian translation
Format: Online via zoom. Registration link: https://bit.ly/2TUaoPp
Each event will consist of a presentation or provocation, followed by an interactive session, where we think through FPE, food relations and the lessons to be learnt from the alternative practices being discussed.
Day 1
Thursday 01.07.2021, 16.00-18.00
Talk by Dr. Oona Morrow, feminist geographer and Assistant Professor in Food Sociology at Wageningen University, the Netherlands.
Title: Careful Circularity for an Urban Food Commons?
Part of research colloquium at Chair of Comparative Development and Cultural Studies Sustainability Week event programme
Chair: Prof Martina Padmanabhan
Day 2
Friday, 02.07.2021, 16.00-18.00
FPE Dialogue: Food and farming alternatives in Indonesia, India and Germany
Chair: Prof. Gülay Caglar, Professor for Gender and Diversity at the Otto-Suhr-Institute of Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin.
Introduction (Prof. Martina Padmanabhan): What is WEGO and what is Feminist Political Ecology? Why is it useful to understand the socio-ecological dynamics of alternative food production and consumption?
Each presenter will have 5 minutes to offer a short provocation about alternative food practices, based upon their insights from field research.
Dimas Laksmana & Patrick Keilbart: Organic agriculture as social practice: Perspectives from West and Central Java.
Siti Maimunah: Hungry Coal: Extractivism, Food Security and Energy Transition.
Enid Still: The politics of scale: Thoughts from encountering ethical agricultural practices in Tamil Nadu, India
Marlene Gómez Becerra: The Politics of Food in Urban Community Kitchens
Followed by collective discussion and reflection on the questions of alternative food and agriculture