Description
This workshop aims to bring together historians working onfood system s during a time of
unprecedented global ecological crises Accelerating after 1945 f ood and agriculture affiliated
industries became dominant players in the global food system . Rooted in colonialist relations and
with growing economic and political power they came to have a significant share in global
environmental damage. Still , the social, environmental and health impacts of these industries
were contested from the start. Problematically, these historical processes are understudied from
an Anthropocene perspective that recognizes unequal responsibilities and vulnerabilities. B y
b ringing together scholars working on food and agriculture affiliated industries and scholars
working on historical contestations of the industrialized food system, this workshop aims to
produce collaborative histories that help to understand and change the current food system.
T
wo sets of questions are central to this workshop . One set of questions historicize s the
domina nce of food and agriculture affiliated industries in the postwar Anthropocene . We invite
papers on industries that have been relatively understudied despite their dominance in the food
system. Examples include the animal feed industry, chemical industry, the food industry,
pharmaceutical industry, the meat industry, supermarkets, and trade industry ( such as ports).
W hy and how did the se industries become dominan t in different contexts ? How did the food and
agriculture industry shape knowledge expertise and ignorance about its impact How did
industries and affiliated experts shape national continental and global policies? How did they
relate to and navigate controversies? And h ow did they relate to one another?
The second
set of questions focuses on historical contestation s of industry dominance in the
postwar food system How did critical voices on health, environment, animal liberation and labor
conditions shape or not shape postwar industrialization and globalization of the food system ?
Why and h ow did NGOs experts and governanc e actors criticize the industrialization of food
And how did this relate to criticism within the industrialized food system, for example from
agricultural organizations, industry workers and experts? What ‘alternatives’ were developed to
the industrialize d food system, like co operatives , organic agriculture and a lternative f ood
n etworks
Methodologically, we aim for transnational and global perspectives as much as possible
. Please
note that such perspectives are also possible on national source material W e also explicitly
invite reflections on source difficulties , including industry secrecy challenges of scale and
overview, and challenges of technical complexities We seek to include perspectives on h ow to
write histories of alternative pathways that did not happen ; or h ow to deal with source gaps of
food and agricultural movements striving for food system change Working on such a large
thematic field, we invite a variety of historical subdisciplines to send in a proposal, including
environmental historians, agricultural historians, historians of science, medicine
environmental historians, agricultural historians, historians of science, medicine,, and and technology, food historians, animal historians, economic historianstechnology, food historians, animal historians, economic historians, and political historians, and political historians.. Scholars working in the environmental humanities and social sciences more broadly are also very Scholars working in the environmental humanities and social sciences more broadly are also very welcome.welcome.
The workshop is organized
The workshop is organized by by two Dutch Research Council two Dutch Research Council projects:projects: ‘What does your meat eat? A ‘What does your meat eat? A global environmental history of Dutch livestock feed (1954global environmental history of Dutch livestock feed (1954--20202020)’)’ ((dr. Floor Haalboom, dr. Floor Haalboom, Erasmus Erasmus University Rotterdam Medical CenterUniversity Rotterdam Medical Center//Utrecht UniversityUtrecht University, , VI.Veni.201H.017VI.Veni.201H.017)), , and and doctoral projectdoctoral project ‘‘Food as a Tool for Social Change: How Ideas and Practices on Natural Food and Farming Entered Food as a Tool for Social Change: How Ideas and Practices on Natural Food and Farming Entered the Mainstream in the Netherlands (1950the Mainstream in the Netherlands (1950--2000)2000)’’ ((Amber StriekwoldAmber Striekwold MAMA, , Utrecht UniversityUtrecht University,, PGW.22PGW.22..011011).). The workshop is coThe workshop is co--organized with the organized with the doctoral doctoral project project ‘‘Discourses in Dutch Discourses in Dutch postpost--war agricultural history: politics, agricultural industries, and environmental issueswar agricultural history: politics, agricultural industries, and environmental issues’’ (Anna Teijeiro(Anna Teijeiro MAMA, , VVUU UniversityUniversity AmsterdamAmsterdam)), and with the Environmental Humanities Network and the , and with the Environmental Humanities Network and the Descartes Center for the History and Philosophy of the Descartes Center for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities (Utrecht Sciences and the Humanities (Utrecht UniversityUniversity).).
| Period | 15 May 2025 → 16 May 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Workshop |
| Location | Utrecht, NetherlandsShow on map |