Fair Trade Rebels: Coffee Production and Struggles for Autonomy in Chiapas

Naylor, Lindsay
Fair Trade Rebels Cover

Is fair trade really fair? Who is it for, and who gets to decide? Fair Trade Rebels addresses such questions by shifting the focus from the abstract concept of fair trade--and whether it is "working"--to the perspectives of small farmers. It examines the everyday experiences of resistance and agricultural practice among the campesinos/as of Chiapas, Mexico, who struggle for dignified livelihoods in self-declared autonomous communities in the highlands, confronting inequalities locally while participating in a global corporate agricultural chain.

Surplus Labor and Subjectivity in Urban Agriculture: Embodied Work, Contested Work

Luke Drake

This article examines unpaid work within urban agriculture sites. It focuses on the extra work—the surplus labor—that is performed to sustain these sites and how this work relates to subject formation. Land access and subjectivities are widely discussed in the urban agriculture literature, particularly in the Global North, but recent research has also identified the continual supply of labor as a crucial issue as well.

Researching Diverse Food Initiatives: From Backyard and Community Gardens to International Markets

Jenny Cameron
Sarah Wright

This editorial introduces the papers that form this special edition on Researching Diverse Food Initiatives. The papers had their genesis in a series of sessions held at the Institute of Australian Geographers annual conference in September 2009. The sessions sought to draw together research on existing alternatives to mainstream agriculture and to further understand the role of research and researchers in contributing to the movements they study.

Community economies in Monsoon Asia: Keywords and key reflections

Katherine Gibson
Rini Astuti
Michelle Carnegie
Alanya Chalernphon
Kelly Dombroski
Agnes Ririn Haryani
Ann Hill
B Kehi
Lisa Law
Isaac Lyne
Andrew McGregor
Katharine McKinnon
Andrew McWilliam
Fiona Miller
C Ngin
Darlene Occeña‐Gutierrez
Lisa Palmer
Pryor Placino
Mercy Rampengan
L Than Wynn
I Wianti Nur
Sarah Wright

The paper has been collaboratively written with co‐researchers across Southeast Asia and represents an experimental mode of scholarship that aims to advance a post‐development agenda.This paper introduces the project of documenting keywords of place‐based community economies in Monsoon Asia. It extends Raymond William’s cultural analysis of keywords into a non‐western context and situates this discursive approach within a material semiotic framing. For Open Access, click here.

Beyond the birth wars: diverse assemblages of care

Kelly Dombroski
Katharine McKinnon
Stephen Healy

In this article, we argue that paying attention to the diverse assemblages of care enables us to go beyond simplistic natural versus medical models of birth and maternity care. We draw on interviews with women in New Zealand.

Gender Equality and Economic Empowerment in the Solomon Islands and Fiji: a Place-based Approach

K. McKinnon, M. Carnegie, K. Gibson and C. Rowland

The economic empowerment of women is emerging as a core focus of both economic
development and gender equality programs internationally. At the same time there is
increasing importance placed on measuring outcomes and quantifying progress towards
gender and development goals. These trends raise significant questions around how well
gender differences are understood, especially in economies dominated by the informal sector
and characterised by a highly gendered division of labour, as is the case in many Pacific

Reimagining Livelihoods: Life beyond Economy, Society, and Environment

Ethan Miller
Reimagining Livelihoods (cover image)

Much of the debate over sustainable development revolves around how to balance the competing demands of economic development, social well-being, and environmental protection. “Jobs vs. environment” is only one of the many forms that such struggles take. But what if the very terms of this debate are part of the problem? Reimagining Livelihoods argues that the “hegemonic trio” of economy, society, and environment not only fails to describe the actual world around us but poses a tremendous obstacle to enacting a truly sustainable future.

 

Economic Geography, Manufacturing and Ethical Action in the Anthropocene: A Rejoinder

J.K. Gibson Graham
Jenny Cameron
Stephen Healy
Joanne McNeill

We are thrilled by Vicky Lawson’s deeply appreciative response to the Roepke Lecture and the written article. In her response, Vicky does more than we could ask for by inviting economic geographers to think with us about ways of reworking manufacturing (and other economic activities) that center on care for the well-being of people and of the planet. Vicky goes to the heart of our project by highlighting the importance we place on looking for the ethical openings that arise in the current context of climate change and growing socioeconomic inequality.