Everyday Experts: How people's knowledge can transform the food system

490 Pages·2017·13.78 MB·English

Everyday Experts: How people’s
knowledge can transform the food
system

Colin Anderson, Christabel Buchanan,
Marina Chang, Javier Sanchez Rodriguez and Tom Wakeford
(editors)

Published PDF deposited in Coventry University Repository

Original citation:
Anderson, C; Buchanan, C; Chang, M; Sanchez Rodriguez, J. and Wakeford, T. (eds). (2017)
Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system. Coventry
University: Coventry.

http://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/areas-of-research/agroecology-water-resilience/our-
publications/everyday-experts-how-peoples-knowledge-can-transform-the-food-system/

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Everyday Experts:
How people’s
knowledge can
transform the
food system
The People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective
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Everyday Experts:
How people’s knowledge
can transform the
food system
Cover photos:
(left): Field teaching by Farmer Research Team members about planting methods,
Lobi area. Photo taken by C. Hickey, December 2014. Used with the permission of
project participants.
(right): The Coventry Men’s Shed participatory video project exploring “What’s Eating
Coventry’ and unpacks social justice issues related to food in the city of Coventry.
More information at www.peoplesknowledge.org
Everyday Experts:
How people’s knowledge
can transform the
food system
The People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective*:
Colin Anderson
Christabel Buchanan
Marina Chang
Javier Sanchez Rodriguez
Tom Wakeford

*Contributors listed in alphabetical order. This book was a collective endeavour and
work and responsibility was shared evenly amongst the editorial team. All chapters
have been peer reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers and revised accordingly as
a part of a non-blind open peer review process.
Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system
Published by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University
The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) is driving innovative,
transdisciplinary research on the understanding and development of socially just and
resilient food and water systems internationally. Unique to this University Research
Centre is the incorporation of citizen-generated knowledge - the participation of
farmers, water users and other citizens in transdisciplinary research, using holistic
approaches which cross many disciplinary boundaries among the humanities as well
as the natural and social sciences.
The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR)
Coventry University
Ryton Gardens, Wolston Lane
Coventry, CV8 3LG
United Kingdom
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: [phone]
Web: h ttp://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/areas-of-research/agroecology-water-
resilience/
To cite this publication: People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective (Eds). (2017).
Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system.
Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series. Coventry: Coventry University.
Available at: www.coventry.ac.uk/everyday-experts.
The Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series seeks to encourage debate outside
mainstream policy and conceptual frameworks on the future of food, farming, land
use and human well-being. The opportunities and constraints to regenerating local
food systems and economies based on social and ecological diversity, justice, human
rights, inclusive democracy, and active forms of citizenship are explored in this Series.
Contributors to the Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series are encouraged to
reflect deeply on their ways of working and outcomes of their research, highlighting
implications for policy, knowledge, organisations, and practice.
The Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series was published by the International
Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) between 2006 and 2013. The
Series is now published by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, at
Coventry University.
Professor Michel Pimbert is the coordinator and editor in chief of the Reclaiming
Diversity and Citizenship Series.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this volume are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, its partners and donors.
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Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Contributor biographies x
Introduction xix
Theme 1 – Participatory research - practitioner reflections
1 L ooking inwards, looking outwards:
reflecting on an Indigenous research approach 1
Tabitha Martens
2 Reflecting on a participatory process on biofuels challenges 15
Jasber Singh
3. Earth Mother: participatory theatre with indigenous peoples 23
N. Madhusudhan
4. C AIS Maloka: Researching our Campesino reality through
critical reflection, participation, action and learning 33
Javier Sanchez Rodríguez and Maria Pastora de la Pava
5. Participatory workers: from tyrants to critical thinkers 55
Tom Wakeford
6. R ecovering Andean food wisdom: participatory methods
and food sovereignty in the Peruvian Andes 75
Maruja Salas and Timmi Tillmann
7. P articipatory action research transforming local food systems in India,
Iran and Peru 99
Michel P. Pimbert, Periyapatna V. Satheesh, Alejandro Argumedo, and Taghi
M. Farvar
8. A farmer-to-farmer agroecological approach to addressing food security
in Malawi
 121
Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong, Catherine Hickey, Esther Lupafya, Laifolo
Dakishoni, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Isaac Luginaah and Mangani Katundu
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Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system
Theme 2 – Knowledge process in social movement organizations and non-
government organizations
9. La Vía Campesina and academia: a snapshot 139
Josh Brem-Wilson and Paul Nicholson
10. The role of trust in building alliances of social movements:
organising the International Forum on Agroecology 153
Maryam Rahmanian and Thierry Kesteloot
11. Community organisations for food systems change:
reflecting on food movement dynamics in Manitoba 169
Colin Anderson, Jeanette Sivilay and Kenton Lobe
12. Canadian women farmers: developing a gender-inclusive vision
for agricultural policy 189
Carla Roppel and Annette Aurélie Desmarais
Theme 3 – Education and critical learning processes
13. Engaging with Cuba’s permaculture movement through
transformative learning 203
Mary Beckie and Ron Berezan
14. Reclaiming the yam: a critical journey into the origin
and transformation of our food 219
Mama D
15. Soil and me 235
Ma’at á Nkemi
16. Community first! Engaging user participation in
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 251
Jeff Conant
17. Collective learning as a core dynamic of social movement
challenging the dominant food system: the case of the
Network in Defence of Maize in Mexico 269
Karol Yañez Soria
Theme 4 – Community-university engagement
18. Solidarity science: reflections, negotiations and experiences with
doing research on the ground with Proambiente and Chico Mendes
and the rubber tappers’ movement in Acre, Brazil 281
Jacqueline M. Vadjunec
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Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system
19. Community engaged action research and food sovereignty in Canada 293
Lauren Kepkewicz, Rolie Srivastava, Charles Levkoe, Abra Brynne and
Cathleen Kneen
20. Involving smallholder farmers in participatory research on pollinators
in agroecosystems: a case study from Eastern India 309
Soumik Chatterjee, Barbara Smith and Parthib Basu
21. Reclaiming the plots: struggles and strategies from
London’s Community Food Growers Network 327
Christabel Buchanan, Rob Logan and Marina Chang
Theme 5 – Autonomous approaches to Action Research: Knowledge processes
occurring in different spaces outside of mainstream institutions
22. Urban and rural women building economic solidarity between the city
and the countryside: a political agroecological approach to food security 343
Josefina Ayala Aponte and Dora Maria Chamorro
23. Connecting the dots and closing the loops: a living lab for living well 361
Marina Chang
24. Brokering innovation and fostering action learning – towards promoting
‘agroecological entrepreneurship’ in the new Cuban economic model 373
Humberto Ríos Labrada and Juan Ceballos Müller
25. The potential limitations of food sovereignty activism:
a reflective case study 383
Ruth E. Hayward
26. Women defending their territory and natural resources in Peru:
Women of Celendin Fighting to Protect Pachamama 395
Graciela Romero
27. Esnetik: Ethics, trust, transparency and the challenges of negotiating
meaningful sustainability 411
Raquel Ajates Gonzalez
28. F rom the grassroots or by the state? Strategies for fostering
urban agriculture in Brazil 427
Rafael de Brito Dias, Milena Pavan Serafim and Julicristie Machado de
Oliveira
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Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system
Acknowledgements
This book was a considerable undertaking and involved the love and labor of many
people. First of all, we thank all of the authors and the groups and movements that
they are involved for your input into the book. From contributing their stories and
analysis to the book’s chapters to providing critical peer reviews to other chapters,
they have been the heart and soul of this process. Their stories are inspiring and
insightful and will provide critical insight to inform the praxis of anyone wanting to
contribute to the co-production and mobilisation of knowledge in social movements.
We are indebted to the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) and
Coventry University for providing funding for this project and for supporting the staff
researchers involved. Particularly we would like to thank Michel Pimbert for his
guidance and unwavering support throughout the entire process. We are also grateful
to the Management Committee for approving funds to support the project, including
financial contributions for authors of chapters who do not write and do research for a
living. Without this it would have been harder for many authors to take the time to
critically reflect and share their experiences through a chapter in this book.
Thank you to Sue Parrott, Pete Christopher and Becky Mitchell from GreenInk, Sam
Wajid and especially to Fiona Hale for help with copy editing and in translating and
editing material written in Spanish. We thank Linda Newton at Clever Design for
support with developing promotional material. Thanks to Piers Aitman for his skill and
patience in designing and putting together the final book.
Our Editorial Collective has been supported by staff at the Centre for Agroecology,
Water and Resilience, Coventry University, in particular by Carole Fox, Layla Riches,
Mina Thompson, Josh Elliot, Joanne Noone, Jane Batey, Liz Woodard, Rosie
Gibbard and Marina Plunkett. It has been hosted by the People’s Knowledge and
Transdisciplinarity Working Group (www.peoplesknowledge.org).
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