Contextualising food sovereignty: the politics of convergence among movements in the USA

As food sovereignty spreads to new realms that dramatically diverge
from the agrarian context in which it was originally conceived, this
raises new challenges, as well as opportunities, for already complex
transnational agrarian movements. In the face of such challenges calls
for convergence have increasingly been put forward as a strategy for
building political power. Looking at the US case, we argue that historically
rooted resistance efforts for agrarian justice, food justice and
immigrant labour justice across the food system are not only drawing
inspiration from food sovereignty, but helping to shape what food
sovereignty means in the USA. By digging into the histories of these
resistance efforts, we can better understand the divides that exist as
well as the potential for and politics of convergence. The US case
thus offers important insights, especially into the roles of race and
immigration in the politics of convergence that might strengthen the
global movement for food sovereignty as it expands to new contexts
and seeks to engage with new constituencies.