University of Victoria

Food Production and Changing Social Relations in a Globalized World

In the past few decades, the global organization of food production has changed dramatically. However, such change is ongoing and not necessarily unidirectional, particularly as social and political actors engage in activities that are influential in shaping what people eat. The traditional national boundaries of food production are dissolving, as globalization leads to the international harmonization of food policies, while spurring grassroots activism. Given that food production connects diverse people in competing and complementary ways, this session will consider proposals that sociologically examine food production and contribute insight in terms of (but not limited to): globalization, agri-food restructuring, geographical space and place, labour, social movements, conflict, state action, food sovereignty, gendered, racialized, and/or ethnicized processes of production, and theoretical tools for examining food production. The goal of this session is to examine some of the practices and perspectives relevant to developing new and enriched sociological understandings of how food production informs social relations.

Session Organizer: Caleb Krahn, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, caleb.krahn@utoronto.ca ; Kristie O'Neill, University of Toronto, kristie.oneill@mail.utoronto.ca

Globalization of the "Industrial Diet"

Tony Winson, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology University of Guelph, twinson@uoguelph.ca

This paper offers a preliminary discussion of the concept of industrial dietary regimes and their early origins in the American context as a prelude to a discussion of the globalization of this diet in the neo-liberal era. The paper argues that the industrial diet is being globalized via three principal vectors today: global supermarket chain-store operations, transnational fast food restaurant chain operations, and transnational snackfood and beverge corporations. The health dimensions of this phenomenon are touched upon to give a sense of what the longer term impact of the transformation of food environments in developing countries are likely to be.

Wednesday June 5, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-162

Grist to the mill: An interdisciplinary meta-narrative synthesis approach to understanding health equity in a globalized food system

Anelyse Weiler, Simon Fraser University, aweiler@sfu.ca , Chris Hergesheimer, University of British Columbia, c.p.hergesheimer@gmail.com

In exploring pathways to health (in)equity through a globalized food system, an interdisciplinary approach offers a nuanced and comprehensive picture of the social determinants of health. However, multi-sited, cross-lingual and interdisciplinary research collaborations present considerable methodological challenges. Our 5-year research program, “Food systems and health equity in an era of globalization: Think, Eat and Grow Green Globally (TEG3),” includes research partners from Canada and Ecuador, whose disciplinary specialties range from epidemiology and public health to rural sociology.

In order to integrate existing knowledge on the relationships between food systems and health, we are conducting a meta-narrative synthesis. That is, our literature review explores the "storylines" that emerge from selected academic disciplinary knowledge about the pathways by which a globalized food system shapes health equity. By building a shared language to operationalize such contested concepts as food security, food sovereignty and health equity within extensive database reviews, we offer practical methodological insights for teams of researchers seeking to bridge disciplinary and conceptual boundaries. Our meta-narrative synthesis will inform the design of primary research interventions taking place at subsequent stages in the TEG3 project. These interventions will involve partnerships with food producers, consumers and Indigenous communities in Canada and Latin America.

Wednesday June 5, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-162

Food deals and diets: The implications of trade arrangements for Kenyan diets.

Kristie O'Neill, University of Toronto, kristie.oneill@mail.utoronto.ca

Since the mid-1990s, growing attention has been placed on the dietary changes that seem to be taking place in non-OECD countries. For instance, in non-OECD countries, consumers seem to be increasingly eating foods that are higher in fats and sugars (Popkin 2006).

Scholars have analyzed how changing trade agreements help shape the availability of particular foods, influencing diets. Research has focused on how trade agreements have facilitated foreign direct investment in food production, and what the implications of food-import regulations for diets are (Rayner et al 2007; Hawkes 2008; Thow 2009; Thow and Hawkes 2009; Hawkes 2010; Schmidhuber and Shetty 2010). Yet how changing trade agreements influence domestic food production itself in turn influencing dietary changes is largely understudied. This is an important factor in understanding dietary shifts, as domestic producers are often responsible for the majority of food that is available for consumption (Holt-Giménez 2009: 145).

This presentation seeks to examine how changing Kenyan food production and diets relate to different convergences in the international political economy of food. Specifically, this presentation uses the food regime approach to interpret Kenyan food production and diets in conjunction with global configurations of property and power.

Wednesday June 5, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-162