Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups)
This article presents a case study of the solidarity economy in Italy: the Italian G.A.S. – Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, which I translate as Solidarity Purchase Groups. GAS are often conceptualized as "alternative food networks". Beyond this categorization, I highlight their novelty in re...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Arizona Libraries
2014-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Political Ecology |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21131 |
| _version_ | 1828355989748842496 |
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| author | Cristina Grasseni |
| author_facet | Cristina Grasseni |
| author_sort | Cristina Grasseni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article presents a case study of the solidarity economy in Italy: the Italian G.A.S. – Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, which I translate as Solidarity Purchase Groups. GAS are often conceptualized as "alternative food networks". Beyond this categorization, I highlight their novelty in relational, political, and ecological terms, with respect to their capacity to forge new partnerships between consumers and producers. Introducing an ethnographic study that I have developed in a recent monograph (Grasseni 2013), I dwell here in particular on how the solidarity economy is embedded in practice. I argue that gasistas' provisioning activism is something different to mere "ethical consumerism." Activists use the notion of "co-production" to describe their engagement as a concurrent rethinking of the social, economic, and ecological aspects of provisioning. Building also on a quantitative survey of the GAS movement in northern Italy, I pursue an ethnographic understanding of "co-production." I argue that producers and consumers in GAS networks "co-produce" both economic value and ecological knowledge, while re-embedding their provisioning practice in mutuality and relationality.
Keywords: Solidarity economy, solidarity purchase groups, Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, alternative food networks, provisioning, co-production, Gibson-Graham, Italy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T02:51:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9af938f65f294210b81b5768138beebe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1073-0451 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T02:51:41Z |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Arizona Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Political Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-9af938f65f294210b81b5768138beebe2022-12-22T02:16:16ZengUniversity of Arizona LibrariesJournal of Political Ecology1073-04512014-12-0121117819210.2458/v21i1.2113120565Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups)Cristina Grasseni0University of Utrecht, the NetherlandsThis article presents a case study of the solidarity economy in Italy: the Italian G.A.S. – Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, which I translate as Solidarity Purchase Groups. GAS are often conceptualized as "alternative food networks". Beyond this categorization, I highlight their novelty in relational, political, and ecological terms, with respect to their capacity to forge new partnerships between consumers and producers. Introducing an ethnographic study that I have developed in a recent monograph (Grasseni 2013), I dwell here in particular on how the solidarity economy is embedded in practice. I argue that gasistas' provisioning activism is something different to mere "ethical consumerism." Activists use the notion of "co-production" to describe their engagement as a concurrent rethinking of the social, economic, and ecological aspects of provisioning. Building also on a quantitative survey of the GAS movement in northern Italy, I pursue an ethnographic understanding of "co-production." I argue that producers and consumers in GAS networks "co-produce" both economic value and ecological knowledge, while re-embedding their provisioning practice in mutuality and relationality. Keywords: Solidarity economy, solidarity purchase groups, Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, alternative food networks, provisioning, co-production, Gibson-Graham, Italy.https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21131 |
| spellingShingle | Cristina Grasseni Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups) Journal of Political Ecology |
| title | Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups) |
| title_full | Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups) |
| title_fullStr | Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups) |
| title_short | Seeds of Trust. Italy's Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups) |
| title_sort | seeds of trust italy s gruppi di acquisto solidale solidarity purchase groups |
| url | https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21131 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cristinagrasseni seedsoftrustitalysgruppidiacquistosolidalesolidaritypurchasegroups |