People Centred Perspectives on the Sustainability of Food Systems
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2020)
Special Issue Editors
Interests: food justice; ethical production systems; fair trade; power; social resilience
Interests: sustainable food systems; food security; rural development; agrarian change; rural-urban linkages; sustainable food planning; collective action; social movements; action research
Special Issue Information
Dear colleagues,
This Special Issue seeks contributions highlighting how researchers and practitioners put people at the center of work to transform food systems. We highlight interpretations of sustainability which foreground the promotion of justice and health, examining social processes and outcomes. In a global context of political uncertainty and anxiety, coupled with pressures to respond to climate and biodiversity emergencies, food is central to individuals’ experiences of macrolevel change. It holds a central place in community level responses: voluntary provisioning services responding to food insecurity, claiming spaces to produce urban food or social movements demanding food sovereignty. As a universal need, food has the potential to unite action and policy globally, offering opportunities to transfer learning about sustainability transformations.
We seek reflection on potential food futures, and how they can center people currently at the social, political, cultural or environmental margins. Authors are encouraged to engage critically with theoretical frameworks, analytical tools, and empirical cases that illustrate how we can shape more sustainable food systems. Perspectives might include political ecology, the pluriverse, everyday politics, the post-political, assemblages or participative justice (Anderson and Kearnes, 2012; Beveridge and Koch, 2017; Escobar, 2018; Loo, 2014; Moragues-Faus and Marsden, 2017; Swyngedouw, 2010; Yates, 2015).
Topics for theoretical or empirical investigation might include:
- Negotiating justice, care and responsibility in the food system towards different humans and nonhumans;
- Integrating the environment into discourses of food poverty and (in)security;
- Intersections between planetary and human health, for example, relationships between sustainability and nutrition;
- Empowering food practices, such as those conducive to realizing food sovereignty and democracy;
- Agents of change in the food system, including producer, consumer or network perspectives;
- The role of skills and learning in achieving sustainability, and the challenges of adapting education and employment to future food provisioning.
We also welcome methodologically focused articles, considering, for example:
- Tools for measuring and evidencing the social value of community-led initiatives;
- Delivering research methods which value lived experience of food unsustainability.
Dr. Agatha Herman
Dr. Ana Moragues-Faus
Dr. Hannah Pitt
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- food insecurity
- marginality
- intersectionality
- food justice
- food sovereignty
- transformation
- sustainability
- health
- food practices
- food poverty
- food systems
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
