Political Agroecology and Territorial Resistance Towards Food Sovereignty Facing a Global Crisis

Dear Colleagues,

In these times of crisis, the resistance and alternatives proposed in the rural and agri-food spheres to provide answers to rural and urban territories require the construction of processes rooted in a vision of political agroecology and with food sovereignty as the horizon. Social articulations, collective political subjects, territorial resistance, transversal alliances, the leading role of peasant ecofeminism, etc., are crucial to generating viable, ecologically healthy, socially just, economically viable, and culturally appropriate present and future scenarios for women and men from North and South. “Political agroecology and territorial resistance towards Food Sovereignty facing a global crisis” is a space for relevant contributions concerning social change in rural, agrarian and agri-food systems. Any vision of political agroecology must necessarily include the analysis of grassroots processes generated by different social organizations to strengthen agroecological transitions in any of the areas of agri-food systems.

Understanding agroecology as a movement, it is essential to understand and analyze how the different actors in the agri-food field are organized to promote changes in agricultural management practices, innovations from food processing, changes in food supplies reaching the concept of “agroecological distribution”, changes in consumption habits, the role of the restaurants and chefs, and their relationship with agroecology. Through this vision, we are oriented to analyze the collective processes that, from different spheres and in an articulated manner between each other, are committed to contesting the hegemony of the dominant agrifood system, consolidating new practices, and new stories around food, agriculture, “eating well”, rural territories, or how urban spaces are built, among other issues.

Thus, we are interested in the collective political subjects in the framework of agroecology and food sovereignty, their internal strengthening processes, their articulation strategies, their stories about the common good and how agendas are generated, and the repertoires of action and protest that are put into play.

Of course, it is necessary to highlight the impact of feminism within agroecology movements: "Without feminism, there is no agroecology", which emerged from Brazilian feminist organizations and movements and resonates in all agroecological networks and agitates experiences, groups, and organizations from all areas. On the other hand, political agroecology must include the analysis of agroecological policies, that is, the implementation of institutional public policies (municipal, regional, state, international) that promote change towards sustainability with agroecological tools.

For this, it is important to collect the experiences of different agroecological policies that have been implemented and consider their impacts. Research articles and reviews in this area of study are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. David Gallar Hernández
Prof. Dr. Manuel González de Molina
Dr. Emma Siliprandi
Topic Editors