Course number

G-ECON31 6A595 LE82 G-ECON31 6A595 LE43

Course title

Instructor's(and course International Political Economy of Agriculture name, job title,title inInternational Political Economy of Agriculture and departmentof affiliation
English)Target year

Number of
1st year students or above credits

2

Graduate School of Economics
Professor,HISANO SHUJI

Year/semesters 2024/Second semester

Days
LectureMon.3,4andLanguage of instruction English
Class style (Face-to-face course)
every
otherweek
periods[Overview and purpose of the course]This course provides a comprehensive and critical view on the development and current state-of-affairs ofagriculture and food governance at the global, national, and local levels, by referring to various theoreticalframeworks and concepts of international political economy and agri-food sociology and geography,
especially with a focus on the unequal power relations between various actors. We will discuss issues andprospects of agriculture and food governance from the perspectives of sustainable development .
Since this course is designed also for a group of students who are supervised by the instructor and therefore
continuously attend the course over several years, it would be better to share the themes of the course in theprevious years before introducing the theme in 2024. In 2021, our focus was on the concept of "food as acommons" that has re-emerged as a transformative narrative and framing to challenge the mainstream
paradigm of food as a commodity, to broaden our imagination to explore and practice alternative paradigm offood and food systems. In 2022, we read the Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies together to learn origins,concepts and methodologies of critical agrarian studies, a field of research that unites scholars from various
disciplines concerned with understanding the process of agrarian change: the processes, implications, andlimitations of pervasive capitalist penetration into the agricultural sector and rural livelihoods and landscapes.
In each 2-period class, we picked up three to four chapters of the Handbook that consists of 72 chapters intotal. In 2023, we turned our eyes to urban food governance as a space and means of transforming foodsystems globally as well as locally/regionally. Although it is in rural areas where our food is mainly produced,
scholarly and policy attention is gradually drawn to urban and city regions as an important arena for making
and implementing food policy. We learnt histories, concepts, and practices of urban food governance throughcase studies of plans, policies, and programmes implemented in different contexts.
We have often come across the question of how alternatives emerge and are constructed; and if and in what
way they can demonstrate and realize their transformative potential (e.g. challenging and transforming thedominant food regime towards more just and sustainable food systems and bringing about social change atlarge). Therefore, in 2024, we will deepen the understanding, broaden the horizon, and enrich the imaginaryof alternatives and futures of our agri-food systems through learning diverse practices, theories, andpolitics around the two most significant concepts of agri-food transformations: alternative food networks(AFNs) and agroecology.

[Course objectives]
Through this course, students will acquire critical and interdisciplinary approaches to social, economic,
political, cultural, and environmental issues surrounding agriculture and food, and gain insight into
Continue to International Political Economy of Agriculture (2)↓↓↓

International Political Economy of Agriculture (2)fundamental social science issues such asand power of discourse .

structure and agency ,commodification and alienation ,[Course schedule and contents]
Every year, textbooks used in this course are different, but we use either introductory books with highinternational recognition for textbooks so that even beginners of agri-food studies or international political
economy and sociology can learn effectively, or handbook-style books with theoretically and conceptually
elaborated introduction chapter and well-structured chapters that cover most of important issues and problems
and include rich case studies. In the past years, we read the following books together:[2019] Jason Konefal & Maki Hatanaka, eds., Twenty Lessons in the Sociology of Food and Agriculture,
Oxford UP, 2019.
[2020] Jessica Duncan, Michael Carolan & Johannes S.C. Wiskerke, eds., Routledge Handbook of
Sustainable and Regenerative Food Systems, Routledge, 2020.
[2021] Jose Louis Vivero-Pol, Tomaso Ferrando, Olivier De Schutter & Ugo Mattei, eds., Routledge
Handbook of Food as a Commons, Routledge, 2018.
[2022] H. Akram-Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay, eds., Handbook of CriticalAgrarian Studies, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021.
[2023] Ana Moragues-Faus, Jill K. Clark, Jane Battersby, Anna Davies, eds., Routledge Handbook of Urban
Food Governance, Routledge, 2023.
In this semester, however, we will read the following highly specialised books.
[A] Ferne Edwards, Food Resistance Movements: Journeying Through Alternative Food Networks, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2023.
[B] Colin Ray Anderson, Janneke Bruil, M. Jahi Chappel, Csilla Kiss, and Michel Patrick Pimbert,Agroecology Now! Transformations Towards More Just and Sustainable Food Systems, Palgrave Macmillan,
2021.
[Week 1 | 7 Oct] Guidance and Introduction[Week 2-3 | 21 Oct] A1. Introducing Food Resistance Movements / A2. Food Waste Activism in Australia[Week 4-5 | 11 Nov] A3. The Food Sovereignty Movement in Venezuela / A4. Autonomous Food Spaces inCatalonia[Week 6-7 | 25 Nov] A5. Reflections on Food System Transitions / A6. Future Directions for Food ResistanceMovements[Week 8-9 | 9 Dec] B1. Introduction / B2. Origins, Benefits and the Political Basis of Agroecology / B3.
Conceptualizing Processes of Agroecological Transformations[Week 10-11 | 23 Dec] B4. Domain A: Rights and Access to Nature / B5. Domain B: Knowledge and Culture/ B6. Domain C: Systems of Economic Exchange[Week 12-13 | 6 Jan] B7. Domain D: Networks / B8. Domain E: Equity / B9. Domain F: Discourse[Week 14-15 | 20 Jan] B10. Power, Governance and Agroecology Transformations / B11. Reflexive
Continue to International Political Economy of Agriculture (3)↓↓↓International Political Economy of Agriculture (3)Participatory Governance for Agroecological Transformations / B12. Conclusion[Week 16 | Jan 27] Wrap-up Discussion
Basic rules in class- One or two students are assigned to prepare a summary presentation of book chapter(s) or journal papers,
including questions, reflections and some points for discussion- Summary part of the presentation should not be detailed too much
- Handout (a summary, questions and discussion points) needs to be circulated via email (ipea-kyotou@
googlegroups.com) 2-3 days beforehand- A student who will be assigned for the next class is appointed to be a facilitator, who introduces
presentation(s), manage time, collects and organises questions and points for discussion, and facilitate
discussion- All the participants are required to actively join the discussion- Anybody can present anything additional but closely relevant to the chapter(s) with or without a handout[Course requirements]
No prerequisite knowledge or skill required other than English language ability sufficient to interact actively
in class.
[Evaluation methods and policy]
Grading will be carried out on a basis of active class participation (70%) and assignment presentation/report(30%).
[Textbooks]
Ferne Edwards 『Food Resistance Movements: Journeying Through Alternative Food Networks』（Palgrave Macmillan, 2023）ISBN:9789811957949
Palgrave Macmillan, 2023 『Agroecology Now! Transformations Towards More Just and Sustainable FoodSystems』（Palgrave Macmillan, 2021）ISBN:9783030613143
Reading materials will be made available in advance through the course mailing list and/or a cloud system.
[References, etc.]（Reference books）
Jason Konefal and Maki Hatanaka eds. 『Twenty Lessons in the Sociology of Food and Agriculture』（Oxford UP, 2019）ISBN:9780190662127
Jessica Duncan, Michael Carolan & Johannes S.C. Wiskerke, eds. 『Routledge Handbook of Sustainable andRegenerative Food Systems』（Routledge, 2020）
Jose Louis Vivero-Pol, Tomaso Ferrando, Olivier De Schutter & Ugo Mattei, eds. 『Routledge Handbook ofFood as a Commons』（Routledge, 2018）
H. Akram-Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay, eds. 『Handbook of Critical AgrarianStudies』（Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021）
Ana Moragues-Faus, Jill K. Clark, Jane Battersby, Anna Davies, eds. 『Routledge Handbook of Urban FoodGovernance』（Routledge, 2023）ISBN:9780367518004
Recommended reading materials will be made available in advance as well as in class through the course
mailing list and/or a cloud system.
Continue to International Political Economy of Agriculture (4)↓↓↓

International Political Economy of Agriculture (4)[Study outside of class (preparation and review)]
Students are required to read the assigned articles and book chapters for each class as well as other relevant
reading materials so that they will be able to actively participate in discussions.
（Other information (office hours, etc.)）
Office hours are by appointment. Please e-mail at hisano@econ.kyoto-u.ac.jp for an appointment.
*Please visit KULASIS to find out about office hours.