Building the local food movement in Chiapas, Mexico: rationales, benefits, and limitations

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have become a common response to the socioecological injustices generated by the industrialized food system. Using a political ecology framework, this paper evaluates the emergence of an AFN in Chiapas, Mexico. While the Mexican context presents a particular set of challenges, the case study also reveals the strength the alternative food movement derives from a diverse network of actors committed to building a “community economy” that reasserts the multifunctional values of organic agriculture and local commodity chains. Nonetheless, just as the AFN functions as an important livelihood strategy for otherwise disenfranchised producers it simultaneously encounters similar limitations as those observed in other market-driven approaches to sustainable food governance.Tinker Foundation; SBSRI Pre-Doc Graduate Research Grant Program; AAG Latin America Specialty Group; Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellowship12 month embargo; Published online 18 May 2016.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu