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Building the local food movement in Chiapas, Mexico: rationales, benefits, and limitations

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have become a common response to the socioecological injustices generated by the industrialized food system. Using a political ecology framework, this paper evaluates the emergence of an AFN in Chiapas, Mexico. While the Mexican context presents a particular set of challenges, the case study also reveals the strength the alternative food movement derives from a diverse network of actors committed to building a “community economy” that reasserts the multifunctional values of organic agriculture and local commodity chains. Nonetheless, just as the AFN functions as an important livelihood strategy for otherwise disenfranchised producers it simultaneously encounters similar limitations as those observed in other market-driven approaches to sustainable food governance.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/623140
Date18 May 2016
CreatorsBellante, Laurel
ContributorsUniv Arizona, Sch Geog & Dev
PublisherSPRINGER
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle
Rights© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Relationhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10460-016-9700-9

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