Events
Wednesday and Thursday, August 25th and 26th 2021
BUILDING ALTERNATIVES TO AGRO-INDUSTRIAL FOOD SYSTEMS
Agro-industrial food systems produce negative externalities such as health problems, ecological issues, and social inequalities. The covid-19 pandemic reinforced some of these issues . While better off people spent more time at home with their families cooking the food they bought from local producer, more vulnerable groups found themselves standing in line for food donations. At the same time, food workers were frontline workers in supermarkets and the food industry exposed to health risks. However, since the early 2000s, there is a renewed interest in alternatives to mainstream food systems such as food cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, slow food initiatives but also more traditional forms of collective action in the field of food such as farmers/workers’ unions or food banks. These initiatives aim at thinking about how a more just, healthy and ecological food system could look like and work collectively and individually towards that ideal. While these initiatives can be powerful actors of change, there is disagreement about how this change should come about. Due to the complexity of the issue of food, it is very challenging to take into account sometimes contradicting issues such as food accessibility and just revenues for producers. Furthermore, while some might advocate market-based actions as an easy entry point to support a more ecological and just food production, others have criticized the omission of structural inequalities and racism, its risk of cooptation and the de-responsibilization of corporations and governments.
A wide range of food organizations propose alternatives and seek to transform the food system and research in this field is flourishing. In this conference, we wish to bring together social scientists studying the diversity of collective and individual actions around food in different countries. The conference will be held in Geneva, in person and on-line. We propose to discuss papers from all the participants in the framework of three panels:
- Networks and struggles of Alternative food organizations
- Agriculture, food production, food organizations
Panels detailed program is available here.
Thursday, August 26th, 6 pm (CET)
Final conference keynote by ANNIE SHATTUCK
FOOD CRISES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: REFORM AND TRANSFORMATION IN TROUBLED TIMES
Annie Shattuck is assistant professor in Geography at the Indiana University Bloomington. In her research, she studies food movements, agriculture, and related concepts such as food sovereignty, food security, and food justice. More recently, she has been working on the political economy of pesticide use in agriculture. In 2011, she co-wrote an article with Eric Holt-Gimenez entitled “Food crises, food regimes and food movements: rumblings of reform or ties of transformation?” In her keynote, ten years after having published this paper, she revisits the food movements to assess how the food movements have brought about change in the food system, what remains a challenge and how these movements and their struggles have evolved.
Poster of the event is available here
Thursday, April 15th 2021, 17h30
CONSTRUIRE UN SYSTEME ALIMENTAIRE DURABLE A GENEVE: DEFIS ET VISIONS D'AVENIR
Rencontre réunissant des personnes actives dans différents secteurs alimentaires (production, transformation, distribution) ainsi que dans le monde associatif,
politique et scientifique. Cette rencontre a pour but de discuter des défis relatifs à la construction d’un système alimentaire durable et d’identifier des solutions pour mettre en oeuvre ce projet à court et moyen terme. Dans le cadre de notre étude du système alimentaire genevois, nous pensons la durabilité en lien avec l’impact de l’alimentation sur l’environnement, sur les inégalités sociales (accès à la nourriture et salaires des personnes qui travaillent dans le domaine de l’alimentation) et sur la santé. Nous proposons une rencontre interactive pour identifier collectivement des solutions permettant de construire un système alimentaire durable. L’objectif étant de définir des stratégies politiques pour mettre en oeuvre ses solutions en impliquant différents acteurs de la société.
Thursday, September 10th 2020, 19h
RÉINVENTONS NOTRE ALIMENTATION.
Semaine du goût: Table ronde suivie du film "Le Semeur"
Ce printemps, le semi-confinement lié au covid-19 a révélé et exacerbé des tensions existantes dans le système alimentaire genevois (et plus largement dans toute la Suisse romande).
D’un côté, les citoyen-nes les plus fortunés amenés à cuisiner davantage se sont rués sur les produits locaux et les circuits alimentaires alternatifs. De l’autre, les plus précaires n’ont plus eu les moyens de se nourrir et ont eu recours aux colis de nourriture alimentaire.
Ces inégalités reflètent des divisions de plus en plus importantes entre celles et ceux qui peuvent s’offrir une nourriture de qualité et celles et ceux qui sont tributaires de la générosité d’autres personnes et institutions. Cette situation montre également l’importance de la production alimentaire locale.
D’autres inégalités se cachent là aussi, les producteurs locaux peinent à se verser un salaire rémunérateur qui rend compte de l’importance de leur travail pour l’ensemble de la population. De plus, ils font parfois face à des difficultés économiques importantes pour maintenir à flot leur ferme, leur coopérative ou leur entreprise.
Friday, November 29th 2019, 18h
Samuel Schlaefli and Esther Petsche will present their documentary "Climate Changers" at the University of Geneva (unimail, salle M2160). After the screening, the two directors will be there to discuss with the audience their encounters with climate changers in Paris during the COP21. Furthermore, we will draw links to the ongoing climate strikes and the movement Fridays for Future.
Read article in le journal de l'unige
Monday, October 1st 2018, 18h
Dominique Marchais will present his new documentary "Nul homme n'est une île" at the cinéma Grütli. After the screening, we organize a debate on citizenship and real utopias. This debate will offer the opportunity to debate with Dominique Marchais his motivations to work on citizens' initiatives in the realms of food production, architecture, woodcraft, and citizens' participation in defining what the good life is. The documentary addresses key issues related to the scale of social changes, environmental protection, social justice, and citizens' empowered participation in the city.
Download poster and information
Conferences
Thursday, March 12th 2020
Conference: Practices, collectives and processes of political transformation
Luke Yates will give a conference in the framework of the sociological lunch.
12h30-14h00 | Uni Mail, Room M4393
Wednesday, February 5th 2020
Conference: Resisting the Crisis- Paths of direct social action
Lorenzo Bosi will present his new book 'Resistere alla crisi – I precorsi dell'azione sociale diretta' (Resisting the crisis – Paths of direct social action) co-authored with Lorenzo Zamponi. More information on the book is available here.
12h15 -13h30 | Uni Mail, Room M 1130
The conference is followed by a workshop on Process as a useful tool to study political action
The workshop will give participants the chance to learn more about the path approach based on process tracing used by L. Bosi and L. Zamponi as well as to work on their own research projects. Participants do not necessarily have to use process tracing in their own research projects but be open to reflect on how certain aspects could be useful for their work. During the workshop, participants will get feedback on their work from their peers as well as Lorenzo Bosi.
14h -17h| Uni Mail, Room M 4393
Download poster of the event.
Friday, May 24th 2019, 15h
Hanspeter Kriesi will present a new research method drawn from his last research project on "political conflict in the shadow of the Great Recession" (to learn more about the project see the POLCON website). The new research method is called "Contentious Episodes Analyses" and will be soon presented in a min-symposium of the social movement journal Mobilization.
The event is co-organized with the GREC - Groupe de recherche sur les élections et la citoyenneté politique de l'université de Lausanne.
For more information see the poster of the event.
Thursday, May 23rd 2019, 16h
Doug McAdam will give a talk about the movement centric nature of social movement research and discuss how this impacts the discipline. The talk will be based on a book that moves the focus beyond successful movements and analyzes social movement that emerge and others that do no take place.
The event is co-organized with the GREC - Groupe de recherche sur les élections et la citoyenneté politique de l'université de Lausanne.
For more information see the poster of the event.
Wednesday, May 22nd, 12h
Doug McAdam will present his research on the biographical outcomes of social movement participation. In this conference, Doug McAdam presents a study of socialization processes that tracks the effects of engagements over time. He studied college students as they arrive at university and over the three years of their studies in order to assess the biographical consequences of activism.
The event is co-organized with the GREC - Groupe de recherche sur les élections et la citoyenneté politique de l'université de Lausanne.
For more information see the poster of the event.
Wednesday, April 3rd 2019, 12h15
Jan van Deth will present his new book on political participation. The conference will be followed by a workshop to discuss with Professor van Deth his on-going research projects on alternative forms of political participation and their relevance for the study of political consumerism.
"Political Participation in a Changing World. Conceptual and Empirical Challenges in the Study of Citizen Engagement." In the last decades, political participation expanded continuously. This expansion includes activities as diverse as voting, tweeting, signing petitions, changing your social media profile, demonstrating, boycotting products, joining flash mobs, attending meetings, throwing seedbombs, and donating money. But if political participation is so diverse, how do we recognize participation when we see it? Despite the growing interest in new forms of citizen engagement in politics, there is virtually no systematic research investigating what these new and emerging forms of engagement look like, how prevalent they are in various societies, and how they fit within the broader structure of well-known participatory acts conceptually and empirically. The rapid spread of internet-based activities especially underlines the urgency to deal with such challenges.
Pour plus d’information, l’affiche de l’événement. Pour vous inscrire au workshop, contacter Jasmine Lorenzini.
Thursday, March 14th 2019, 12h15
Francesca Forno will present her research on food activism. The conference will be followed by a workshop to discuss with Francesca Forno and Maria Kousis challenges related to empirical research on food activism.
Francesca Forno will discuss the action repertoire of political consumerism in the food sector. She discusses the different action forms and levels of action (local, national, transnational) in order to highlight what is political in consumption related activism.
Pour plus d'information, voir l'affiche de l'événement et pour vous inscrire au workshop contacter Jasmine Lorenzini.
Thursday, November 29th 2018, 16h
Sophie Duchesne will present her research on banal nationalism. This conference is co-organized with the Grec (Groupe de recherche sur les élections et la citoyenneté politique) and it will take place at the University of Lausanne.
"(Tous) nationalistes sans le savoir? Le nationalisme banal aujourd’hui. " En 1994, le psychosociologue anglais Michael Billig, publiait Banal nationalism, un livre qui est rapidement devenu une référence importante pour les travaux anglophones sur l’idée de nation. Il a notamment contribué à déplacer le débat de la question de l’origine des nations à celle de leur perpétuation. Aujourd’hui, le nationalisme semble redevenu tout puissant au point que la thèse de Billig, le caractère invisible du signalement constant de l’idée de nation, peut sembler dépassée. Il s’agira de montrer qu’il n’en est rien et d’en tirer les conséquences pour l’étude de la démocratie. Pour plus d’info, le programme du GREC.