Movement without a movement: Food self-provisioning in Eastern Europe and the Balkans as emergent transformation towards a degrowth mode of living

Abstract

The intimate links between agri-food systems and degrowth economics has only recently been addressed in the extant scholarship, much of which centers on the contributions of "food self-provisioning" (FSP) as a type of (often urban and periurban) practice nurturing communal autonomy, healthy/organic food, and environmental sustainability. While FSP within Western Europe is often celebrated within environmentalism and agri-food studies, its practical scope remains limited. In contrast, FSP within Eastern Europe (EE) and the Balkans is widespread, yet overlooked with regards to its potential insights, or simply fetishized as a type of crisisinduced "scarcity" narrative. Echoing more critical scholarship on FSP within the EE/Balkans, we argue that FSP within this overlooked region constitutes real movement towards a degrowth paradigm. However, we seek to better understand both the potentials and limits to the politics of alternative foodways. We suggest that FSP's potential contribution to a degrowth paradigm might be enhanced by raising its voice, rather than staying silent. Drawing on a broadly Marxian approach to political economy, degrowth, and critical agrarian studies, we argue for the strategic necessity of embedding FSP practice in a context of political organization that aims to shift the balance of forces across the strategic terrain of the capital-state nexus. In doing so, we aim to shed more light on the material-economic and politico-institutional space(s) in which FSP within the EE/Balkans (and beyond) may evolve from a movement without a movement towards an emergent collection of social forces building a degrowth mode of living.