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76655-01 - Seminar: Alternative Globalizations of the Food System: Ideas, Institutions and Practices (3 KP)
| Semester | Herbstsemester 2025 |
| Angebotsmuster | einmalig |
| Dozierende |
Basil Bornemann (basil.bornemann@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn)
Antonia Kaiser (antonia.kaiser@unibas.ch) |
| Inhalt | 1. BACKGROUND The globalized food system, organized around liberalized international trade and corporate-driven supply chains, has significant negative ecological, social, and economic impacts. These include environmental degradation, loss of agrobiodiversity, socio-economic inequalities along value chains, and the marginalization of small-scale producers. However, the last two decades have also seen the emergence of counter-tendencies. These range from regulatory approaches such as voluntary sustainability standards and supply chain laws to more grassroots or hybrid forms of governance that challenge or reconfigure dominant modes of globalization. Notably, a diverse set of actors has begun to take responsibility for reshaping food supply chains to make them more just, sustainable, and democratically governed. These actors aim to integrate values such as fairness, ecological care, and transparency into translocal relationships between producers and consumers. 2. IDEA Against this background, the seminar examines alternative forms of globalization in the food system that differ from or explicitly reject the dominant model of liberalized, free trade. In doing so, the seminar is closely connected to the international research project “Food Coalitions Beyond the Local Scale: Spaces for a Democratic Sustainability Transformation” (https://translocalfoodcoalitions.org/en). The project explores Trans-Local Food Coalitions (TLFCs), i.e., initiatives that organize food value chains across geographical distances while aiming to produce democratic goods (e.g., participation, empowerment, legitimacy) and sustainability goods (e.g., ecological integrity, economic fairness). TLFCs are characterized by their effort to build long-term relationships between producers and consumers, across national borders, while reshaping the terms under which food is produced, traded, and consumed. They operate in spaces “beyond the local” and differ from both global commodity trade and strictly local food initiatives. The research project examines how such coalitions operate, the values and governance forms they embody, and their transformative potential. The seminar offers students insight into the theoretical and methodological approach as well as first empirical findings of the TLFC research project, but it goes further. It invites students to take critical perspectives on the project and explore two blind spots in its current theoretical and methodological design: a) The consumption perspective: How do individuals relate to and participate in TLFCs in different roles, ranging from consumers to politically engaged citizens? b) The Global South perspective: How are TLFCs and the form of globalization they bring about to be interpreted and assessed from a Global South perspective? By exploring these and potentially additional perspectives, the seminar contributes to a broader understanding of what alternative globalizations in the food system could look like in times of growing geopolitical instability, ecological urgency, and increasing pressure on the liberal trade regime. |
| Lernziele | By the end of this seminar, students will: Be able to describe the ecological, social, and economic consequences of globalized food systems. Understand key concepts in the study of alternative food system globalization, including the concept of Trans-Local Food Coalitions (TLFCs). Have gained insights into the design and execution of an international project in social science-based sustainability research. Identify conceptual and empirical blind spots in academic research and develop complementary perspectives to shed light on these blind spots. Have developed and reflected on theoretical and methodological approaches and research designs to explore those blind spots. Have deepened their ability to engage in collaborative academic inquiry and present their findings in oral and written form. |
| Literatur | Will be announced and provided through ADAM. |
| Bemerkungen | The seminar will take place on the following dates: Freitag 19.09.2025 14.15-17.00 Uhr Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 Freitag 03.10.2025 14.15-16.00 Uhr Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 Freitag 17.10.2025 14.15-18.00 Uhr Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 Samstag 18.10.2025 10.15-18.00 Uhr Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 Freitag 14.11.2025 14.15-16.00 Uhr Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 Freitag 05.12.2025 13.15-16.00 Uhr Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
| Teilnahmevoraussetzungen | None |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | kein spezifischer Einsatz |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Freitag | 14.15-18.00 | Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
Einzeltermine
| Datum | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|
| Freitag 19.09.2025 | 14.15-17.00 Uhr | Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
| Freitag 03.10.2025 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
| Freitag 17.10.2025 | 14.15-18.00 Uhr | Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
| Samstag 18.10.2025 | 10.15-18.00 Uhr | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Freitag 14.11.2025 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
| Freitag 05.12.2025 | 13.15-16.00 Uhr | Deutsches Seminar, Seminarraum 3 |
| Module |
Modul: Resources and Sustainability (Master Studiengang: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources ) Modul: Soziologische Theorie MA (Master Studienfach: Soziologie) Modul: Ungleichheit, Konflikt, Kultur (Master Studienfach: Soziologie) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Umwelt und Nachhaltigkeit (Masterstudium: European Global Studies) |
| Prüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Prüfung | Student inputs Report on research idea and methodology |
| An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung | Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Wiederholungsprüfung | keine Wiederholungsprüfung |
| Skala | Pass / Fail |
| Belegen bei Nichtbestehen | nicht wiederholbar |
| Zuständige Fakultät | Philosophisch-Historische Fakultät, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Anbietende Organisationseinheit | Fachbereich Soziologie |