Doing community supported agriculture: Tactile space, affect and effects of membership

► We describe the processes and practices that constitute CSA membership. ► We find that both negative and positive affective states are generated. ► Membership fosters mediated and non-representational ways of knowing. ► The effects of membership include environmental consciousness raising and holi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoforum 2012-03, Vol.43 (2), p.332-341
Main Authors: Hayden, Jennifer, Buck, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
Affectivity
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Alternative food network
America
Bgi / Prodig
Community participation
Community supported agriculture
Consumer
Consumer behaviour
Consumers
Cooking
Environment
Ethics
Farm work
Farmers
Food
Geopolitics
Human geography
Local communities
Local food
Membership
Networks
Non-representational theory
Supermarkets
Sustainable agriculture
Tactile space
United States of America
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Summary:► We describe the processes and practices that constitute CSA membership. ► We find that both negative and positive affective states are generated. ► Membership fosters mediated and non-representational ways of knowing. ► The effects of membership include environmental consciousness raising and holism. Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a direct-marketing food network that has the potential to decommmodify food and support farmers while providing consumers with sustainably raised, seasonal, local food. Through an ethnographic exploration of one CSA, we describe the processes, practices, affect and effects of consumer membership within the context of non-representational theory. Carolan (2007) suggests that when non-representational ways of knowing are fostered through long-term embodied involvement in “tactile space,” “deep commitments” to the environment and others are encouraged. This study augments understandings of tactile space. Findings show that members engage in the tactile spaces of CSA (e.g. attending distribution, cooking more), but with varied effects: leading one member to voice compassion for the farmer which “is something you don’t feel in a supermarket” while another admits feeling “like I’ve been conned.” In spite of mixed experiences and affects, on balance we conclude that CSA membership does affect environmental ethics.
ISSN:0016-7185
1872-9398
DOI:10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.08.003