Miss Alice Taherzadeh

Cyhoeddiad

• Date
• Type

Ymchwil

• Agroecology and Food Sovereignty
• Sustainability Transitions
• Critical Pedagogy
• Social Movement Learning
• Social Movement Theory
• Place-based Learning

Thesis

[Resisting, Learning, Growing] Investigating the Role of Place-Based Social Movement Learning in Scaling UK Agroecology.

Transitions to agroecology require a radical rethinking of agricultural learning and training. Current top-down approaches to knowledge transfer - scientist to farmer - are inadequate for the social, economic and environmental challenges facing the food system and inappropriate for the place-embedded nature of agroecological knowledge and practice. Grassroots agroecology movements are setting a new agenda for farmer-led agricultural learning, inspired partly by farmer-to-farmer models developed in Latin America and promoted by the international peasant network La Via Campesina. These approaches are often influenced by critical pedagogy and aim to foster transformative learning by promoting horizontal practices and political education to scale agroecology. The UK agroecology movement is connected with other movements nationally and is situated within broader global food sovereignty and ecological justice movements. Learning models and practices - which involve consideration of facilitation, communication, group organisation and many other aspects - are therefore influenced by wider currents within UK and global social movements. In order to support the effective scaling of agroecology in the UK, this research aims to work alongside landworkers and food system activists to understand more about these practices and the importance of place in both design and impact so that a diverse range of informed practices can be developed. This is a participatory action research and activist research project.

Research Questions

1. How are social movement learning strategies employed in the UK agroecology movement in order to scale agroecology?
2. How do place-based factors influence learning practices within the UK agroecology movement?
3. What characteristics do successful learning practices for scaling agroecology have in the UK? And what are the barriers to their impact in different places?

If you are a farmer or food systems activist and would like to work together or contribute to the research design or outputs then drop me an email.

Funding Source

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.

Conference Communications