Food Sovereignty and Urban Agriculture: Concepts, Politics, and Practice in South Africa

This book explores the relationship between urban agriculture and food sovereignty by examining the mobilization of urban food producers as a response to exclusionary dynamics in the agri-food system. It highlights the lived realities of an urban agriculture initiative in George, South Africa, and reveals how farming is perceived as a means to overcome historical segregation, high food prices, and unhealthy nutrition. The findings will interest scholars and students of alternative food politics, agrarian transformation, and food movements, as well as rural-urban intersections.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 164 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the intricate interplay between urban agriculture and food sovereignty, offering a fresh and innovative perspective through the critical urban food lens. It centers its attention on the powerful mobilization of urban food producers as a response to the highly exclusionary dynamics prevalent in the agri-food system, including inadequate food access and devastating land dispossessions.

In particular, this volume seeks to address a significant gap in the current literature by engaging with food sovereignty discourses and movements within urban contexts. Regrettably, related activism by urban food producers in the Global South remains underrepresented in both practice and scholarly discourse. Hence, this book takes a deep dive into the lived realities of an urban agriculture initiative in George, South Africa. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks of the right to the city and everyday forms of resistance, it illuminates how deprived food producers expose inequalities and propose alternative solutions.

The findings of in-depth empirical research conducted reveal that dwellers perceive farming as a means to overcome historical segregation, high food prices, and unhealthy nutrition. Consequently, they breathe life into food sovereignty in practice, suggesting further alliances beyond the city.

This book will appeal to scholars and students engaged in alternative food politics, agrarian transformation, food movements, and the intersections between rural and urban areas. Its insights and analysis provide valuable contributions to the ongoing discussions on food security, sustainability, and social justice in our rapidly changing world.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032022703