4TH INTERNATIONAL FOOD & SOCIETY CONFERENCE
SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE FOOD SYSTEMS
15-18 November 2023 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
CALL FOR PAPERS
The existing scholarship on sustainable food systems is plethoric, but a consensual and stable definition of a sustainable food system is challenging to reach, given the complexity of the concept of food system itself, as well as the diversity of stakeholders involved. Social movements advocating for sustainable food systems have become some of the most pivotal and exciting movements of our time yet theorising the scope and substance of sustainable food systems remain a challenge for academia. The seminal attempt of developing a set of holistic and qualitative sustainability indicators by Bell and Morse in 2000, while holding some merit, remains an incomplete experiment. Recent event such as the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted tensions in the global food system, especially on the fragility of the global food supply chain as well as the impact of climate change. These two major issues call for urgent scientific investigation and constitute priority research themes for our upcoming conference in the following terms:
The effects of environmental variability on food supply chains can be experienced at the local, regional, national, and global scales, but the supply chain disruptions due to the current COVID-19 pandemic cut across global and local food supply chains, and recovery strategies are being explored. Seeking to understand the dynamic ramifications of the pandemic to sustainable food supply chains to improve resilience is a priority objective for this call for papers.
THEME 1
Sustainable Food Supply Chain
A growing body of evidence makes it clear that substantial changes are needed to reduce the environmental footprint of our current global food system, including the eating patterns that dominate in many parts of the world and the ones that are emerging. This theme focuses on Perspectives with regard to balancing potentially conflicting priorities related to human and planetary health, as well as equity. Climate action concerns at least three areas pf policy making: mitigation, geoengineering and adaptation. Mitigation concerns reducing the production of new emissions by changing lifestyles, transportation and energy consumption. Geoengineering is often discussed as technological intervention to fix the challenge of climate change. Adaptation concerns necessary measures to minimise the risk of negative impacts of already changing climate conditions. We hope to receive significant contributions related to these three sub-themes.
THEME 2
ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE
The wide-ranging, ongoing, and severe challenge of food insecurity requires systemic exploration. Scholarship on food security has lacked the systemic and justice-based lenses that have long been applied to broader understandings of food (in)security. Accordingly, we contributions that explore topics including underlying factors contributing to food insecurity; equity-based approaches to supporting food security for and with historically marginalized and underrepresented populations; dignity-based, sharing, and stigma-reducing strategies for food security associated with sustainable food systems. Conceptual and empirical that investigate food security from a bold and novel perspective are most welcomed.
THEME 3
FOOD SECURITY
In recent years, the food sovereignty movement has gained traction to address the gaps associated with a strict “food security” approach. Food sovereignty prioritizes equitable access to resources, diversified commodity production, fair labour practices, democratic deliberation between consumers and producers, and the basic right to food for all. To date, most food sovereignty work focuses on the political framework and social activism surrounding “the peasant movement”, so most publications have been theoretical. We are looking for novel conceptual approaches, as well as empirical contributions on this theme.
THEME 4
FOOD sovereignty
THEME 5
FOOD INCLUSIVITY
Beyond the usefulness of inclusive food systems in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges, inclusiveness is a moral imperative. Most people want to live in a world free of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, and the world has committed to this ambition through the SDGs. Achieving this vision requires that particularly downtrodden groups in society reap greater benefits from the food systems with which they interact. These groups are diverse and also overlap in identity. Smallholders cultivate the majority of farm units in many countries but produce only a third of the total value of the agricultural food supply, according to the 2020 Global Food Policy Report), due to their lack of access to non-staple seeds, land, and profitable markets. Similarly, despite their substantial contributions to agricultural production and household food and nutrition security, women face heavy workloads and have less decision-making power than men. We are expecting innovative approaches to inclusivity that go beyond the usual social markers and gender, generation and class, to understand further in depth what is theoretically and empirically at stake when it comes to food inclusivity.
This call for paper includes but is not limited to the aforementioned themes. the scope of contributions may include (but are not limited to) disciplines such as agronomy, soil and water science, environmental and ecological sciences, diet and nutrition, geography, anthropology, applied economics, sociology, and political science. Interdisciplinary studies and trans-disciplinary research are also welcome. Research methods may include a variety of qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research approaches, and authors should provide a detailed discussion of the research methodologies employed so as to appeal to an interdisciplinary audience.
THEME 6
OTHER FOOD SUSTAINABILITY OR
INCLUSIVITY -RELATED THEMES
We welcome scholarly contributions (publishing opportunities will be made available), but we are also open to creating forums for journalists, food writers, and activists. Kindly write to us for further information.
how to submit
Send a 300-word abstract, including a maximum of 5 keywords to the following email address:
foodandsocietyconference2023@gmail.com
Mention the following information in the right sequence: Author(s)'full names, affiliation, and corresponding author.
Use Time New Roman font, size 12 (title in bold and in size 14).
deadline: 30 september 2023
All presented papers shall have an opportunity for publication, upon acceptance of full paper draft submission, either in the Journal of Ethnic and Diversity Studies at the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), or as a book chapter of an edited volume published by the National University of Malaysia Press.
For further enquiries, kindly write to the conference secretariat: foodandsocietyconference@gmail.com
Or liaise with our conference chairman, Dr Eric Olmedo: ericjose.olmedo@gmail.com or eric.olmedo@ukm.edu.my
CONFERENCE VENUE
IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract submission
08 May 2023: starts
15 October 2023: ends
Early birds registration
23 May 2023: starts
15 September 2023: ends
Registration
1 August 2023: starts
30 October 2023: ends
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Dr. Tainá Zaneti
Chef and Scholar
University of Brasília, Brazil
Chef Darren Teoh
Dewakan Restaurant
1 Michelin Star, Malaysia
Dr. Maria Yanet Acosta Meneses
Gastronomy Journalist and Scholar University King Juan Carlos, Spain
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: 15-18 NOVEMBER 2023
CONFERENCE FEES
Fees are inclusive of all access to all conference sessions during three full days, welcome cocktail, coffee breaks, lunches, and conference bags. Optional paying dinners will be proposed at a later stage.
Please determine the amount of your payment in the table above and make it accordingly. You can increase or decrease it as necessary.
ORGANIZERS
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PARTNERS & SPONSORS
