Volume 23 Issue 1 (2017)

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Building a Narrative: The Role of Dualisms When Interpreting Food Systems                                                      1-20     

Authors: Kirsten Vanderplanken(a), Elke Rogge(b), Ilse Loots(c), Lies Messely(a) and Frédéric Vandermoere(d)
Affiliation: (a)Social Sciences Unit, Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Merelbeke, Belgium; (b)Rural Development Research Unit, Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Merelbeke, Belgium; (c)Research Group Environment and Society, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium; (d)Department of Sociology, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium

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Abstract            PDF

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Against the background of increasingly complex and diverse agri-food systems, calls are made in rural sociology to no longer describe and distinguish food systems based on dualistic oppositions. The aim of this paper is to understand to what extent food system actors use different dualisms to build their ontological narratives. Based on a qualitative analysis, we analyse the narratives of key actors in the Flemish food system on food system challenges, and their relation with specific dualistic concepts and associated meanings, experiences and practices. Two distinct narratives emerge that are embedded in opposing dualisms, what leads us to believe that dualistic oppositions are still a part of the agri-food reality and are something to take into account when different actors have to collaborate.