Publication | Degrowth from the East – between quietness and contention

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Collaborative learnings from the Zagreb Degrowth Conference. By Lilian Pungas, Ondřej Kolínský, Thomas SJ Smith, Ottavia Cima, Eva Fraňková, Agnes Gagyi, Markus Sattler, Lucie Sovová.

While degrowth as a plural and decolonial movement actively invites the Global South to be part of its transformative project, the current North-South dichotomy threatens to miss the variety of semi-peripheral contexts. Against this backdrop, we aim to contribute to dialogues on degrowth from the often-overlooked ‘East’ – specifically post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Instead of being viewed as a site for transformative examples and inspiration for degrowth-oriented socio-ecological transformation, CEE is often portrayed as ‘lagging behind’. Problematising such reductionist narratives, this essay explores CEE as a lively and rich site of postcapitalist alternatives. Based on two special sessions organised at the 2023 International Degrowth Conference in Zagreb, we reflect upon insights gathered on various degrowth-aligned traditions and practices in CEE with a goal to 1) advance an equitable dialogue between the global degrowth scholarship and the East, and 2) strengthen a context-sensitive degrowth agenda in CEE.

https://doi.org/10.32422/cjir.838

Democracy in Agriculture and Food Provisioning: A Citizenship Lens

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Spring School-PhD course May 19-23, 2025

With daily seminars by Engin Isin and contributions by Cristina Grasseni, Robin Smith, Joost Jongerden, and Han Wiskerke

Fair and just agriculture and food systems have been central issues in policy and practice for much of the 20th and 21st centuries. Peasants, consumers, and social movements have been fighting for rights such as land ownership, access to healthy food, and the right to determine our agricultural and food futures for many decades, if not centuries. Few have conceptualized this in terms of citizenship. Yet by questioning what is fair, just, and right, challenging the working of our agrarian and food systems, and practising alternatives people establish themselves as citizens, and more specifically as agrarian and food citizens.

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Shaping Sustainable Futures: Insights from the 15th IFSA Conference

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Mark your calendars for a wonderful event set to take place from 30th June to 4th July 2024 in Trapani, Sicily, Italy – the 15th International Farming Systems Association (IFSA) conference. This conference promises to be a gathering of minds dedicated to exploring systemic change for sustainable futures, with a focus on crucial topics such as postgrowth farming systems.

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Taxing tradition in Istria, Croatia

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Robin Smith

On its face, taxation is not the most alluring subject for those of us studying rural farming communities. However, taxation touches much of what we care about in these spaces. Taxation fundamentally shapes the economic structure of rural areas, influencing the viability of family businesses and the ability of rural entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the formal economy. Taxes can make and unmake markets, sometimes in dramatic fashion.

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Are Forests Still Relevant for the Nutrition Security of Traditional Forest Dwellers? Insights from One Year of Fieldwork in Kalahandi, Odisha

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By Amrutha Jose Pampackal – Forests have garnered a lot of attention in international policy discussions in recent years because of their role in addressing the rising challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. Less discussed is the importance of forests for the sustainability of many local food systems. Across the globe, billions of people live in proximity to forests and are directly or indirectly dependent on them for their food security. While some view traditional forest dwellers as protectors, others view local people’s dependence on forests as a threat to forests’ health. As part of my PhD research, I study how the nutritional security of forest-proximate communities can be strengthened without increasing the socioeconomic and ecological pressures on forests.

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