Thesis
"Taking care of yourself from the ground up": food self provisioning in Washington state
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2013
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/107235
Abstract
This study seeks to begin to understand the phenomenon of food self-provisioning (FSP), or self-producing food for one's own consumption. This paper begins by placing FSP in its larger historical context of global depeasantization. The paper then goes on to discuss the social, environmental and cultural impacts of industrial agriculture as well as the research on alternative agricultures (local, organic, and sustainable) that critique and challenge the hegemonic agrifood system. The paper then discusses previous studies of FSP as a form of alternative agriculture which more successfully addresses many of the concerns of industrial agriculture by seceding (Kloppenberg, Hendrickson and Stevenson 1996) from it. For the current study, I have conducted 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with agents of Washington State University Extension to find out the extent to which FSP is on the rise and the emergent reasons constituents give for participation. This research has established that interest in FSP education is indeed dramatically on the rise, that many different kinds of people are taking part, and they are coming to it for a variety of reasons, which are embedded in specific cultural contexts. It is important to understand this phenomenon because it is one that is on the rise and becoming a significant activity practiced by many Americans. Just in the last few years, studies have found that home food gardening has grown from 31 to 51 percent from 2008 to 2013 (NGA 2009; GWA 2013). This study has shown that FSP has the potential to bring together incredibly diverse members of the population to secede from the logic of the industrial food system and potentially undermine it through their action. FSP turns what is an irrational and alienating system of acquiring food (Ritzer 2004; Levkoe 2006) into a potentially meaningful and rational relation between people and a substance so necessary for survival and infused with such meaning. In less than a decade, people are independently coming to the conclusion that the industrial food system is not sufficient and turning to FSP as a way to take control over their food sources and ultimately some aspect of their lives.
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Details
- Title
- "Taking care of yourself from the ground up"
- Creators
- Ashley Lynn Colby
- Contributors
- Jennifer Sherman (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Sociology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525282001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis