The Yale Food System Symposium 2013, which was organized by the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in the Yale University, has been concluded with successful outcomes and some productive initiatives. The conference was based on an interdisciplinary platform mainly focusing on food system issues with impacts of climate change, urbanization and land use change, across scales governance issues, agricultural biodiversity and issues of genetic property. The academics and practitioners participated with diverse international backgrounds. The program was structured with panel discussions, selected research papers presentation and poster presentation. Yale Sustainable Food Project director Mark Bomford denoted their initiatives in the Yale Organic Farm and the learning program. They try to spread their vision in urban organic gardening, sustainable food system at the local level to global level by moving policy changes, financial changes, and looking at the root causes. Continue reading →

This proposed volume (12 chapters) will encourage multidisciplinary examinations of the context of food that primarily focuses on place. We are particularly interested in essays that address solutions to the global food crisis, focusing on how we address the diversity in that crisis across place. Chapters should be a maximum of 8,000 words (not including tables, charts, pictures, etc). This volume is intended to inform students and scholars from related disciplines, but just as importantly to attract and interest the college-educated lay reader. A detailed call for papers with a comprehensive outline, target dates, proposed topics, and other details can be found at:
http://sociology.uark.edu/Context_of_Food_Call_for_Papers_092713.pdf.

For more information or questions contact: Kevin M. Fitzpatrick (Co-Ed.) [email protected].

Deadline for chapter proposals is January 15, 2026

Call for papers for the journal Ecología Política, number 46, “The political ecology of biodiversity”

We are writing you on behalf of Ecologia Politica, a semi-annual journal in Spanish addressing environmental questions and their link to society. The journal is more than 20 years old and distributed mainly in Spain and Latin America. Its target is academics and environmental/social organisations. You can find more information under www.ecologiapolitica.info, where you can also download the digital version of the first 42 issues.

The next issue will be focused on “The political ecology of biodiversity” and will be published in December, 2013. We would like to invite you to send us proposals of articles about this topic or proposals of people who could write a good article about this subject. The types of articles published in the journal are the following:

• In-depth articles related to the main subject of the issue. These are articles which analyse the topic in detail, and their length should be approximately 8 pages.

• Short articles with a regional approach and related to the main subject of the issue. They analyse a concrete case study and are approximately 4 pages long.

• Opinion articles related to the subject of the issue. They give a personal and critical vision of the subject matter.

• Articles about resistance or social movements related to the subject matter.

The conditions for different types of articles including their length and format can be consulted on the webpage under the subtitle “enviar artículos” http://ecologiapolitica.info/wordpress/?page_id=6. Only those that comply with the format of the journal will get published.

The proposals should include an abstract of the article. The deadline for sending proposals is 11/10/13 and the deadline for sending the final version of articles that have to be translated to Spanish is 31/10/13. The proposals have to be sent to [email protected].

We are looking forward to receive your proposals. If you have any questions or want more information about details please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,
Coordination of the journal Ecología Política

Topical Issue of lo Squaderno
Commons: practices, boundaries and thresholds

edited by Giacomo D’Alisa & Cristina Mattiucci.

In recent years, the issue of the commons seems to have become crucial. On the one hand, academic and political debates have focused on defining the characteristics of common goods and services, along with the institutional frameworks where they are managed. On the other hand, in an array of everyday life experiences reference to common goods has turned into the expression of new practices of citizenship.

In different contexts, groups of self-organized citizens have designed sets of pooling practices concerning spaces, goods, times and knowledge, experimenting management in ways that are alternative both to centralized regulation and to the capitalist market. These social and political practices contribute to the identification and recognition of the commons, insofar as they transform current values ​​and produce specific spatial and social relationships.

This issue of lo Squaderno aims to explore some specific aspects that regard the practice and interpretation of the common goods. In particular, we aim to investigate the dichotomy between access to and exclusion from resources, spaces and rules. What sort of scalability do common goods have, and how is it possible to create inclusion / exclusion through them?

Opening up a reflection on the differences between the common, the public and the private domain – as well as on the relationship between access, use, ownership and property – we aim to foster a debate that also tackles the rhetoric of the commons as they are tested on, or applied to, specific spaces and places. We invite contribution both drawing from direct experience and developing theoretical reflections. Some of the key issues which we invite authors to deal with are:

– How are common goods created? Which needs and which desires do they attempt to fulfill?
– Why certain commons work for centuries and others just for a few years? What major management problems do they encounter? What exogenous forces determine their existence?
– Why are commons always associated with a community? How to define a community? Can the term ‘community’ be applied both to villagers who manage the scarce resources and global internet users who share software code?
– What power issues arise in the management of common goods? Can the commons be seen as a counter-power to contemporary capitalism? Is it ultimately possible to avoid the absorption of commoning practices into the capitalist process?

Deadline for contributions: 30 September 2025

Have a look at the whole PDF on ISSUU.com

We are proud to proclaim that Future of Food: Journal for Food, Agriculture and Society (FOFJ)– an international peer reviewed journal for young researchers, academics, experts and practitioners in the field of food and related thematic areas has published its 1^st issue on 5^th of August 2013.

The Department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture at the University of Kassel, Germany and the Federation of German Scientists (VDW) have launched this peer-reviewed journal for young scholars and researchers as a new collaborative project.

The theme of the first issue is “Beyond Rio + 20: Green economy in agriculture and food system”, providing thematic articles enriched with peer reviewed research papers, reports and analysis, news and book reviews.Themes related to food are connected with varied and interconnected socio-economic issues such as poverty, social unrest and conflicts, environmental issues including climate change and mismanagement of natural resources.

As a multidisciplinary journal, natural and social scientists from all around the world are welcome to engage in this forum as contributors in our future issues. This journal is based on open access policies, so that you are welcome to share this journal and articles with your colleagues under attribution to the original authors and the journal as well. We firmly believe that “knowledge has to be shared among all of us without borders”.

Here is the official link, www.fofj.org or www.futureoffoodjournal.org

You may also connect with us on facebook: www.facebook.com/futureoffoodjournal

Our 2^nd issue will be based on the theme of “Food Security and Hunger” and will be published in November 2013. Though the deadline for research papers has been expired, you can still engage with providing news, reports and authentic videos related to them.

The 3^rd issue is due in March 2014 and will be focused on “Water for Food”. For that, we are still accepting research papers until 30^th of September 2013.

We have attached the official poster herewith as an attachment. It is highly appreciated if you can distribute it or post in your office or premises or class room to share this message among colleague. If you have further inquiries, feel free to contact us via [email protected] (Sören or Stefanie or Sisira).

Michigan State University’s Second Annual Workshop on Food Justice: Bringing Theory and Practice Together

May 23rd - 25th 2014

Food justice is a growing movement that has inspired both on-the-ground community projects and theoretical articulations across multiple disciplines. This workshop aims to help scholars and practitioners identify and address the challenges and opportunities in food justice, including issues surrounding food access, food sovereignty, agricultural and environmental ethics, and agricultural sustainability. The conference will span three days and include scholarly talks and visits to local environmental justice projects. Academic papers should be accessible to a public audience.

Paper proposals are invited in areas such as

1. Food security and food sovereignty
2. Local foods as a social movement
3. Agricultural ecology and sustainability
4. Issues surrounding non-human animals in agriculture
5. Food, diet, and cooking as co-constitutive with identity
6. Agricultural policy and food standards

The workshop is intended as a transdisciplinary space to forge connections between theories and between theory and practice. Papers in disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, anthropology, geography, history, literary criticism, political ecology, religious studies, and the human dimensions of environmental sciences are all encouraged.

Proposals for panels and 300-word abstracts for individual presentations are due by March 1st, 2014. Please send proposals and abstracts, and any questions, to Ian Werkheiser or Zach Piso.

Press release by the German Institute of Global Area Studies, Hamburg

GIGA establishes award for comparative area studies

How do sanctions affect autocracies such as North Korea or Iran? What is the role of religion in conflicts in Africa and Latin America – and do parallels exist between the distinct trouble spots? The field of comparative area studies (CAS) has developed rapidly in recent years. CAS scientists have left the beaten track of their discipline and have established international networks. The goal? To gain fresh insights by comparing – insights into the structure of authoritarian regimes, the impact of economic crises or the similarities of violent conflicts.

The GIGA recognised the potential of this still-young field of science years ago. As one of Europe’s leading research institutes for CAS, the GIGA has established itself as a centre of academic excellence and has given CAS a scientific home.

To promote the development of this innovative field, the GIGA has established a new award for the best journal article in CAS. A distinguished international jury will be responsible for selecting the winning article, for which the victor will receive a prize of 2,500 euros. Scientists worldwide can submit their work until mid-September. The award ceremony will take place during the international conference ‘Adapting Institutions: A Comparative Area Studies Perspective’, which will mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the GIGA in Hamburg in April 2014.

‘With the GIGA CAS Award, high-quality, original scientific contributions in the field of comparative area studies will be awarded,’ says Andreas Mehler, director of the GIGA Institute of African Affairs and responsible for the CAS Award. ‘Far too often, Eurocentric experiences are elevated quickly to universal insights – for example, experiences with immigration, climate change and democratic societies,’ he says. CAS could offer a way out of this impasse. ‘For a long time, we at the GIGA have been using the opportunities that arise from the comparison of non-European regions,’ says Mehler.

For more information see: www.giga-hamburg.de/cas

Contact:

PD Dr. Andreas Mehler
Neuer Jungfernstieg 21
20354 Hamburg, Germany

Phone: +49 (0)40 - 428 25-523
Email: [email protected]