Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Towards political ecologies of food

Nature Food volume 2, pages 835–837 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Political ecology approaches are relatively absent from food systems research. With deep inequalities in food production, distribution and consumption, the study of power asymmetries is central to food justice and the co-creation of alternative futures.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Critical analysis of food systems.

References

  1. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, 2020).

  2. Crippa, M. et al. Nat. Food 2, 198–209 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Swinburn, B. A. et al. Lancet 393, 791–846 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Morrison, T. H. et al. Glob. Environ. Chang. 57, 101934 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Robbins, P. Political Ecology 2nd edn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).

  6. Giraldo, O.-F. Political Ecology of Agriculture: Agroecology and Post-Development (Springer, Cham, 2019).

  7. Whitfield, S. et al. Nat. Food 2, 383–385 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fountain, A. C. & Hütz-Adams, F. Cocoa Barometer 2020 (ABVV/Horval et al., 2020).

  9. Nat. Food 2, 211 (2021).

  10. Ramprasad, V. J. Peasant Stud. 46, 1286–1307 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Muller, A. et al. Nat. Commun. 8, 1290 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Moragues-Faus, A. & Marsden, T. J. Rural Stud. 55, 275–288 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jacobi, J. et al. Mt Res. Dev. 39, R1–R11 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Reed, M. S. et al. J. Environ. Manage. 90, 1933–1949 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J. & Sturgeon, T. Rev. Int. Pol. Econ. 12, 78–104 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Grabs, J. & Ponte, S. J. Econ. Geogr. 19, 803–828 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Gaventa, J. in Exploring Power for Change (eds Eyben, R., Harris, C. & Pettit, J.) 23–33 (Institute of Development Studies, 2006).

  18. Muscat, A., de Olde, E. M., Kovacic, Z., de Boer, I. J. M. & Ripoll-Bosch, R. Environ. Sci. Policy 123, 21–30 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Chambers, J. M. et al. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00755-x (2021).

  20. Dryzek, J. S. et al. Science 363, 1144–1146 (2019).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland

    Johanna Jacobi & Kenza Benabderrazik

  2. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Querétaro, Mexico

    Gabriela Valeria Villavicencio Valdez

Authors
  1. Johanna Jacobi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gabriela Valeria Villavicencio Valdez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kenza Benabderrazik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johanna Jacobi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Food thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jacobi, J., Villavicencio Valdez, G.V. & Benabderrazik, K. Towards political ecologies of food. Nat Food 2, 835–837 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00404-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00404-8

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene