Identity-construction, mutual enskilment and political negotiation at the farmers’ market

Abstract

By focusing on the agroecological farmers’ market of Menino Deus in Porto Alegre, Brazil, we explore how counter-hegemonic narratives and forms of knowledge are cultivated in such arenas. Informed by theories of practical knowledge as well as theoretical debates over ethics and politics of local food, we regard the farmers’ market as a community of practice, where direct food procurement is a social relation entailing situated identity- construction, mutual enskilment, and political negotiation. The analysis is based mainly on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Porto Alegre between March and June 2016, which included participant observation and semi-structured in depth interviews at the market of Menino Deus. The paper elaborates on the three above-mentioned dimensions (identity- construction, mutual enskilment, and political negotiation) as central, parallel processes that take place at the market, making it an arena for debate over agri-food standards where local food, nutrition security and social justice are redefined and promoted. We highlight linkages between farmers’ histories, visions, modes of production, and the governance mechanisms, enskilment processes and other activities at the market. In this way, we suggest that in this community technical aspects of procurement are re-embedded in the social domain and translate into new ways of life and visions of the future. This paper attempts to link reflections on the market place context, skill acquisition, and collective meaning negotiations, in order to contribute to the debate on local food as emancipatory project.