IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v36y2019i1d10.1007_s10460-018-9895-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community gardens and the making of organic subjects: a case study from the Peruvian Andes

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Cody

    (University of Northern Colorado)

Abstract

This research contributes to emergent theories on subject formation by showing how community garden (CG) participants in a small rural town in Northern Peru came to embrace a set of ideas and practices related to organic agriculture. Most CG scholarship describes the myriad benefits for participants and their communities, as well as individuals’ motivations for wanting to grow their own food. Relatively little research has explored how various kinds of gardens and their organizers produce subjects. Drawing from scholarship on community gardens and subject formation, I examine the emergence of what I call an “organic subjectivity” among garden participants. Based on interviews and fieldwork conducted in Peru, I argue that the making of organic subjects in the CG is the result of three primary influences: (1) the changing agrarian context in the community marked by the adoption of conventional farming practices, (2) the influence of the garden organizer as the agent of an organic ideology, and (3) the material practices associated with CG participation. This case study reinforces the notion that CGs produce subjects and that such subjects could well be oriented towards an agenda of progressive agrarian change that promotes environmental awareness and ecological farming practices, key elements of emerging alternative food networks in the global North and South.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Cody, 2019. "Community gardens and the making of organic subjects: a case study from the Peruvian Andes," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(1), pages 105-116, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10460-018-9895-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-018-9895-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10460-018-9895-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-018-9895-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laura Saldivar-tanaka & Marianne Krasny, 2004. "Culturing community development, neighborhood open space, and civic agriculture: The case of Latino community gardens in New York City," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 21(4), pages 399-412, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Čajka, Adam & Novotný, Josef, 2022. "Let us expand this Western project by admitting diversity and enhancing rigor: A systematic review of empirical research on alternative economies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    2. Daniel C. Kelly, 2023. "Committing to change? A case study on volunteer engagement at a New Zealand urban farm," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1317-1331, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hartl, Barbara & Hofmann, Eva & Kirchler, Erich, 2016. "Do we need rules for “what's mine is yours”? Governance in collaborative consumption communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2756-2763.
    2. Scott Cloutier & Lincoln Larson & Jenna Jambeck, 2014. "Are sustainable cities “happy” cities? Associations between sustainable development and human well-being in urban areas of the United States," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 633-647, June.
    3. John Taylor & Sarah Lovell, 2014. "Urban home food gardens in the Global North: research traditions and future directions," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(2), pages 285-305, June.
    4. Nicole Rogge & Insa Theesfeld & Carola Strassner, 2018. "Social Sustainability through Social Interaction—A National Survey on Community Gardens in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Charlotte Glennie, 2020. "Growing Together: Community Coalescence and the Social Dimensions of Urban Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-25, November.
    6. Monica Allaby & Graham K. MacDonald & Sarah Turner, 2021. "Growing pains: Small-scale farmer responses to an urban rooftop farming and online marketplace enterprise in Montréal, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 677-692, September.
    7. Rosmah Murdad & Mardiana Muhiddin & Wan Hurani Osman & Nor Elliza Tajidin & Zainol Haida & Azwan Awang & Mohamadu Boyie Jalloh, 2022. "Ensuring Urban Food Security in Malaysia during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Is Urban Farming the Answer? A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Katie L. Butterfield, 2023. "Modeling community garden participation: how locations and frames shape participant demographics," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1067-1085, September.
    9. Ina Opitz & Kathrin Specht & Regine Berges & Rosemarie Siebert & Annette Piorr, 2016. "Toward Sustainability: Novelties, Areas of Learning and Innovation in Urban Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Juliana A. Maantay & Andrew R. Maroko, 2018. "Brownfields to Greenfields: Environmental Justice Versus Environmental Gentrification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Andersson, Erik & Tengö, Maria & McPhearson, Timon & Kremer, Peleg, 2015. "Cultural ecosystem services as a gateway for improving urban sustainability," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 165-168.
    12. Monika H. Egerer & Stacy M. Philpott & Peter Bichier & Shalene Jha & Heidi Liere & Brenda B. Lin, 2018. "Gardener Well-Being along Social and Biophysical Landscape Gradients," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, January.
    13. Marit Rosol, 2012. "Book Review: Power at the Roots: Gentrification, Community Gardens, and the Puerto Ricans of the Lower East Side," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(5), pages 1155-1157, April.
    14. Xiaoying Ding & Yukun Zhang & Jie Zheng & Xiaopeng Yue, 2020. "Design and Social Factors Affecting the Formation of Social Capital in Chinese Community Garden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-25, December.
    15. Poulsen, Melissa N. & McNab, Philip R. & Clayton, Megan L. & Neff, Roni A., 2015. "A systematic review of urban agriculture and food security impacts in low-income countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 131-146.
    16. Colding, Johan & Barthel, Stephan, 2013. "The potential of ‘Urban Green Commons’ in the resilience building of cities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 156-166.
    17. Goodman, Wylie & Minner, Jennifer, 2019. "Will the urban agricultural revolution be vertical and soilless? A case study of controlled environment agriculture in New York City," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 160-173.
    18. Lissy Goralnik & Lucero Radonic & Vanessa Garcia Polanco & Angel Hammon, 2022. "Growing Community: Factors of Inclusion for Refugee and Immigrant Urban Gardeners," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    19. Marilyne Chicoine & Francine Rodier & Fabien Durif, 2023. "The bright and the dark side of commercial urban agriculture labeling," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1153-1170, September.
    20. Akane Bessho & Toru Terada & Makoto Yokohari, 2020. "Immigrants’ “Role Shift” for Sustainable Urban Communities: A Case Study of Toronto’s Multiethnic Community Farm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10460-018-9895-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.