Drawing your attention to a free choice course starting in P6 this academic year – RSO58806 Beyond Sustainability: Theorizing Post- & Anti-Capitalist Food Futures

The course is co-taught by Rural Sociology (Mark Vicol and Oona Morrow), Cultural Geography (Chizu Sato) and Knowledge, Technology and Innovation (Katherine Legun) staff. The focus of the course is a deep dive into radical theories that conceptualize post- and anti-capitalist transitions beyond a technocratic understanding of sustainability.

This course examines radical and critical theories of change that explicitly challenge the dominant capitalist global food system. In the course we seek to problematize and re-theorize often taken for granted categories that the status quo of our food system is built around – sustainability; technology; production; economy; growth; and capitalism itself. Food and food systems are deeply political, shaped by historical structures. Yet, food systems are also shaped by the everyday practices of human and non-human actors. The course therefore does not adopt an a-priori ontology of food system change, but rather explores radical theory across the structure-agency divide.Engaging with key readings and texts, we examine theoretical approaches including Marxist political economy, diverse economies, science and technology studies, more-than-human approaches and feminist political ecology. Each week, we discuss a theoretical approach in relation to four cross-cutting themes of food system change:property; labour; ecology; and technology. In the course we also critically examine the role of the neoliberal university in realizing just food futures. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to discover and develop their own theoretical framework for radical change. In the final week of the course, students are tasked with applying theory to creatively imagine their own post anti-capitalist food future.

Be sure to check out this video featuring Mark Vicol, where he provides additional insights into the course: