World Solidarities: IUAES 2019 05 November 2019

On August 27 – 31 I participated to the IUAES 2019 Inter- congress in Poznan, Poland entitled "World Solidarities". It was a great experience to learn more about various approaches to the study of solidarity in very different contexts. As the theme of solidarity is a key dimension of the ‘Food Citizens?’ research project, I would like to share some of the insights from presentations I have attended and found particularly relevant to the project.

Food citizens? advisory board meeting 15 August 2019

In late May 2019, the Food citizens? team traveled to Poland for a project meeting and team outing. This was made possible by the European Research Council’s support and facilitated networks and knowledge-generation.

Edible Cities Network 13 August 2019

Rotterdam is one of the cities participating to the Edible Cities Network (EdiCitiNet), an international cooperation of municipalities that aim to increase the ‘edibility’ of urban spaces. In this blog, Vincent will describe his experiences at one of their recent workshops.

Food Autonomy Festival 12 June 2019

On the first weekend of June a plot of land in Lutkemeerpolder, West Amsterdam, was occupied in order to host the Food Autonomy Festival. The event was organized in solidarity with local farms to protest against the development of Schiphol airport-oriented business park. Two of our PhD's, Maria Vasile and Ola Gracjasz, joined the protest.

Celebrating the World Anthropology Day 2019 in Milan, Italy 03 May 2019

On February 21st, Maria Vasile, one of the PhD students of the project participated to several events organized in Milan by the University of Milano-Bicocca for the celebration of the World Anthropology Day.

Shaping the food future of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region 12 March 2019

How can we organize the food system in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region in a more sustainable and democratic way? This is the overarching theme of the activities of the Food Council Metropolitan Region Amsterdam. On Friday the 15th of March 2019 they invited Prof. Cristina Grasseni to give a presentation on her work on the networks of Solidarity Purchase Groups in northern Italy, known as Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, and think along with members of the Food Council about possibilities for growing the solidarity economy in the Dutch context.

Broken Promises and Precarity in a Small Croatian Farming Community 25 January 2019

Robin Smith, post-doc of the 'Food Citizens?'-project wrote an interesting blog for the Leiden Anthropology blog on the basis of her previous fieldwork on the role of trust in the wine industry in Istria.

Peasants of Wallonia in action! 21 December 2018

On December 1st, Maria Vasile attended the annual meeting of Wallonia’s Mouvement d’Action Paysanne (MAP) (Peasant Action Movement). The members of the MAP gather on this particular day to celebrate St. Eloi, who is recognized as the saint patron of farmers and of the working class, more generally. This is an occasion for MAP farmers to get together, share impressions and discuss about the achievements, challenges and ways forward for the movement. In this article she will share her experience.

Explore 'different' food procurement initiatives in the Netherlands during the Voedsel Karavaan 19 May 2018

Throughout the year, the organisation 'Voedsel Anders' organizes an events series that showcase various local food initiatives in Dutch cities.

Storie del Possibile: Grassroots and Local Initiatives in Italy and Europe 02 May 2018

The conference Storie del possibile took place in the Ex- lavanderia of Santa Maria della Pietà in the neighbourhood Monte Mario in Rome, on April 21-22 2018. It was organized by Comune.info , an Italian network of activists and scholars developed to foster discussion on movements and initiatives that challenge the neoliberal logic.
Maria Vasile, PhD candidate of the "Food Citizens?" project, attended the conference and shares her experiences.