Beyond Alternative Food Networks: Italy's Solidarity Purchase Groups

Acknowledgements List of Figures Introduction Alternative Provisioning Networks The Reinvention of Food Re-weaving the Economy Networks in Labor Seeds of Trust Conclusion Notes Glossary References Index

Cristina Grasseni is a tenured researcher at Bergamo University, Italy, and Visiting Scholar at the Anthropology Department of Harvard University, USA (2012-14). She was David & Roberta Logie Fellow and Harvard Film Study Center Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2011/12). Amongst her recent books are: Developing Skill Developing Vision. Practices of Locality at the Food of the Alps (2009) and Skilled Visions. Between Apprenticeship and Standards (2007).

This stimulating book helps move our thinking about ethical consumption into new areas, for it shows how alternative food networks can lead to new forms of social organisation that raise questions about civil society and co-operation and, ultimately, about states and political legitimacy. James G. Carrier, Hon. Research Associate at Oxford Brookes University, UK Beyond Alternative Food Networks is a richly detailed ethnographic exploration of Italy's agricultural "solidarity economy" movement, in which farmers and consumers negotiate the terms of producing, selling, buying and preparing food. But it is much more than a book about alternative ways of sourcing and consuming food. Grasseni's work challenges the rationalist mythology at the heart of capitalism and reveals the affective relations and contingent practices that constitute community and economy in today's world. Heather Paxson, author of The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America Associate Professor of Anthropology, MIT Much more than a food book, Grasseni has gifted us with a new way of thinking about transforming capitalism into something more humane and sustainable. Her account of the Italian model of Solidarity Purchase Groups should be required reading for everyone involved in building alternatives to corporate and industrial food. It is also a groundbreaking account how people organize and manage cooperative democracy. At a time of economic crisis in many parts of the world, this book gives us a positive model for rebuilding local economies. Richard Wilk, Provost Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University, USA With an anthropologist's eye for detail and a philosopher's capacity to see the big picture, Cristina Grasseni provides a fascinating look at how collective action and solidarity are transforming food systems, culture and activism. Focusing on recent developments in northern Italy, her study yields valuable insights into how alternative approaches to food provisioning can