In this dissertation I focus on the diversity of alternative food initiatives (AFIs) that have emerged amidst concerns about the corporate-led industrial food system. While there have been significant successes, critics suggest that many AFIs are an inadequate response to the complex problems within the food system, and further, are complicit in propagating neoliberal ideals and facilitating the retrenchment of the state. While these critics identify important challenges, they tend to consider place-based AFIs as operating independently on particular projects, with specific claims, or in isolated sectors of the food system. There has been little documentation or analysis situating AFIs within a broader community of practice. To fill this gap, my research builds on the existing literature to investigate the increasing collaborations among AFIs in Canada. Using a community-based action approach, I explore the development of provincial food networks in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. I pay particular attention to efforts that foster and maintain these networks by exploring their history, structure and processes of collaboration. My findings reveal that the provincial food networks can be characterized as assemblages constituted by the self-organization of diverse actors through non-hierarchical, bottom-up processes with multiple and overlapping points of contact. Further, I find that AFIs have used networks strategically to contest the rules and institutions of the dominant food system and to develop participatory and democratic practices that challenge the logics of neoliberalism. Based on the results from this research, I argue that besides developing viable place-based alternatives to the dominant food system, AFIs are also involved in prefigurative ways of being - establishing democratic governance structures, building new institutions, and engaging in different kinds of social relations - in the belly of the existing (food) system.

Brazil, like other Latin American countries, has witnessed an increase in south-south migration rates in the last decade. This scenario led to important changes in migration policies at the Federal level – the update of the conservative Foreigner Statute from 1980 to a rights-based Migration law in 2017 is the prime example of how migration flows can contribute to the promotion of rights and strengthen democracy in host societies. Nonetheless, migrants still face numerous difficulties in the Brazilian territory: public servants’ unpreparedness to deal with migratory procedures and the underspending in welfare institutions are some of the major issues hampering the migrant community in accessing their rights. For that reason, host society organizations have been leading the process of providing essential services such as legal counseling and labor integration, on one hand, and forming networks to advocate for government accountability on the other. This study aims, therefore, to contribute to the debate on the role of social movement networks in formulating and implementing public policies for migrants by exploring the trajectory of social movement networks in the city of Florianópolis, Brazil. Despite being one of the main destinations for newly arrived immigrants, the city has not implemented any specific policy to support them, which has led local organizations to join together in networks to demand answers. Stemming from Scherer-Warren’s social movement networks theory and Braun & Clarke’s thematic analysis method, this research aims to explore the role of social movement networks based in Florianópolis in implementing public policies for migrants, with special attention to migrant women, who have been most affected by the absence of a proper reception policy. In order to delve into civil society’s role and limitations in shaping reception policies for migrants, this study will rely on secondary sources such as papers on public policies, migration, and gender, as well as primary sources such as laws and semi-structured interviews with the main Florianopolitan actors in the migration field. The findings indicate that, despite approving important local policies recently, civil society organizations based in Florianópolis remain the main reference for both the migrant community and public servants when it comes to migratory issues. The weakening of political debate spaces poses a threat to the implementation of such policies, and the strengthening of migrants’ participation in these instances might be the turning point for it to be perceived as a priority by the Executive branch. / O Brasil, tal como outros países da América Latina, testemunhou um aumento dos fluxos migratórios intrarregionais na última década. Este cenário influenciou importantes mudanças nas políticas migratórias a nível federal – a atualização do Estatuto dos Estrangeiro de 1980 para uma lei de migração baseada nos direitos humanos em 2017 é o principal exemplo de como os fluxos migratórios podem contribuir na promoção de direitos e fortalecimento da democracia nas sociedades de acolhida. No entanto, os migrantes seguem enfrentando numerosas dificuldades no território brasileiro: o despreparo dos funcionários públicos para lidar com os procedimentos migratórios e o subinvestimento em instituições de assistência social são algumas das principais questões que dificultam o acesso da comunidade migrante aos seus direitos. Por essa razão, as organizações da sociedade de acolhimento têm liderado o processo de prestação de serviços essenciais, tais como aconselhamento jurídico e integração laboral, ao mesmo tempo em que formam redes para incidir sobre políticas públicas em esferas de governo. Este estudo visa, portanto, contribuir para o debate sobre o papel das redes de movimentos sociais na formulação e implementação de políticas públicas para migrantes, explorando a trajetória das redes de movimentos sociais na cidade de Florianópolis. Apesar de ser um dos principais destinos dos imigrantes recém-chegados, a cidade não implementou nenhuma política específica para atender as demandas específicas dessa população, o que levou as organizações locais a juntarem-se em redes para exigirem respostas das autoridades públicas. Partindo da teoria das redes de movimento sociais de Scherer-Warren e do método de análise temática de Braun & Clarke, esta investigação visa explorar qual é o papel das redes de movimento sociais sediadas em Florianópolis no processo de elaboração e implementação de políticas públicas para a população migrante, com especial atenção para as mulheres migrantes, que têm sido as mais afetadas pela ausência de uma política de acolhimento adequada. A fim de aprofundar a análise sobre o papel e as limitações da sociedade civil na formulação de políticas de acolhimento para migrantes, este estudo basear-se-á em fontes secundárias, tais como estudos sobre políticas públicas, migração e gênero, bem como fontes primárias, tais como leis e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os principais atores florianopolitanos no campo das migrações. As conclusões indicam que, apesar da aprovação recente de importantes políticas locais, as organizações da sociedade civil instaladas em Florianópolis continuam a ser a principal referência tanto para a comunidade migrante como para os funcionários públicos quando se trata de procedimentos migratórios. O enfraquecimento dos espaços de debate político representa uma ameaça à implementação de tais políticas, e reforçar a participação dos e das migrantes nestas instâncias pode ser o ponto de inflexão para que estas sejam percebidas como prioridade pelo Poder Executivo.

En el contexto de los sistemas de comunicación virtual, se trata de analizar desde la antropología política las nuevas lógicas de participación social y los mecanismos de apropiación de los recursos, contenidos y significados que circulan en las redes telemáticas. A través de un estudio de caso, se destaca cómo opera y se desenvuelve una protesta globalizada en torno de la producción de una telenovela sudamericana (La Tormenta), retransmitida por Internet. Se observa la capacidad de acción de los usuarios de un foro para convertir la Red en un medio de organización y crítica y para reaccionar de forma colectiva frente a poderes mediáticos. Esta práctica política consigue trascender del campo virtual al mundo real reclamando reconocimientos y derechos. Una sublevación en Red de consumidores de productos culturales que termina transformando los mecanismos convencionales de participación ciudadana, valiéndose para ello de la conexión de relaciones sociales y emocionales que les ofrecen las nuevas tecnologías de la información. / In the context of virtual communication systems, the new rationale of social participation and the mechanisms used for the appropriation of the resources, contents and meanings that are broadcast through telematic networks are analyzed here from a political anthropology viewpoint. A case study is used in this paper to highlight how a globalized protest is developed against the presentation of a South American soap opera, La Tormenta (The Storm), which was broadcast on the Internet. Users’ capacity for action to convert the Network into ameans of organization and critique and collectively react against the power of the media is analyzed here. This political action went beyond the virtual field to the real world, thus allowing the recognition of rights. This uprise in the network of consumers of cultural products has contributed to transform conventional mechanisms of citizen participation, using the social and emotional connections provided by the new information technologies.