Translating Food Sovereignty

"This book brings to life interactions among globally connected activist communities seeking to challenge dominant and rather simplistic ways of thinking about inequality, the environment, poverty, and food production. A must-read for scholars, students, and activists as well as those seeking to implement more inclusive and realistic policies."—Eve Darian-Smith, University of California, Irvine

"Matthew Canfield is one of the leading socio-legal scholars focused on food sovereignty and agroecology. In this gripping account of the burgeoning food sovereignty movement in the US, he highlights how activists use food sovereignty to challenge transnational governance and neoliberal economic models. Canfield grounds his work in detailed ethnographical study and tells a bigger story of how struggles over the control of food systems can transform law, society, and economy. The food sovereignty movement is over 25 years old and has used law in complex and creative ways. While at the same time, food politics today are more intense than ever. This book is incredibly timely and provides an account of legality in the food sovereignty movement that we've all been waiting for."—Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur to the Right to Food

"Translating Food Sovereignty is as ambitious as it is engaging. Expertly weaving together ethnography with legal studies, Canfield not only helps us to re-imagine more just food systems, he shows us how this is already being done."—Jessica Duncan, Wageningen University

"Canfield examines the 'social practices of translation' involved in food sovereignty, whereby power and meaning are constantly contested and shifting. Using ethnographic research methods, the author traces the historical evolution of food sovereignty and then provides examples of how groups attend to issues such as control and communication in food governance at local, national, and international levels.... Recommended."—C. L. Lalonde, CHOICE

"Canfield's book represents a grounded and inspiring assessment of how strategically cultivating justice in an age of global governance, through different local and global forms of legal mobilization of food sovereignty – from street protests to strategic litigation – can hold tremendous promise."—Jeff Handmaker, The Journal of Peasant Studies

"Canfield's book points to openings in an ongoing and probably irresolvable debate. His careful, comprehensive, and rigorous examination of several cases invites us to step into them and explore what the right to food and other rights could look like in some places. He allows us to explore what is possible and what could be realized through collective, concerted action on multiple scales. Ultimately, the struggle and debate continues well beyond the conclusion of the book, and we can thank Canfield for offering us some new tools and insight toward carrying on the struggle."—Amy Trauger, The AAG Review of Books

"This work is extremely useful for community organizers and activists in this area and policymakers at all levels, local, national, and international."—Richard Zimmer, Food Anthropology

"[W]ell written, informative, and engaging. For anyone interested in learning about the FS [food sovereignty] movement, this book provides a general history of the global FS movement and a detailed record of FS activism in western Washington.... Due to Canfield's selected methodology and active participation in the FS struggle, presented perspectives feel personal, giving you insights on why the FS movement is important to many."—Tiffany K. Woods, Agriculture and Human Values

"In an era marked by widespread food insecurity and escalating concerns about climate change, Translating Food Sovereignty: Cultivating Justice in an Age of Transnational Governance by Matthew C. Canfield offers a timely and thought-provoking analysis of the global food system.... With a wealth of experiences spanning from 'formal' to 'informal' and encompassing both legal and practical dimensions, each perspective presented feels remarkably comprehensive and worthy of serious consideration."—Mallory Cerkleski, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

"In this engaging empirical account, we not only learn about recent and ongoing food sovereignty struggles in their local specificity but also glimpse how these struggles extend beyond lawmaking institutions and across legal jurisdictions. Translating Food Sovereignty thus offers a welcome contribution to legal anthropology, studies of social movements, and scholarship on governance from below."—Leila Kawar, Political and Legal Anthropology Review