Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Organic food movements are globally gaining momentum. In Thailand and India, the industrialisation of agriculture and climate change-related unpredictability has degraded many rural areas. Urban sprawl reduces agricultural resources in peri-urban areas, and many farmers shift towards non-farming occupation. Organic farming methods have consequently re-emerged as means to health and livelihood improvement while the claim for nutritional, healthy foods rises in the urban centres. In the organic food movements in Bangkok and Chennai, a variety of civil society stakeholders engages to challenge the public food system in a bottom-up manner. Many rural farmers have joined the movement, for most know from their own experience that the handling of agro-chemicals affects health, soils and overall farm ecology. This paper presents empirical findings from field research conducted in Bangkok, Thailand (2013-2016), and Chennai, India (2017). It elaborates how the civil stakeholder challenges the public food system through bottom-up participation, and how local movements may actually model for global sustainability transformations. It borrows from New Social Movement theories (e.g. Scott, 1990) and social ecological approaches. The research draws on expert interviews, informal discussions and long-term observations, as well as an annual transdisciplinary Indo-German workshop. Corresponding to the heterogeneity of ‘New Globalisation’ processes, this paper discerns the diverse practices of local communities by the example of the organic food movements in Bangkok and Chennai. These receive impulse largely from within their own societies, drawing on local knowledge. Beyond, stakeholders embrace local spiritual-cultural traits, which distinguish the movement from those of other global regions.