Book reviews / Journal of Rural Studies 26 (2010) 81–84 83

doesn’t show us how that can happen, but he shows us clearly thatthis is the challenge we face.

E. Melanie DuPuisDepartment of Sociology, University of California, 206 College Eight,

Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United StatesE-mail address: emdupuis@ucsc.edu

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2009.10.002

Transnational agrarian movements confronting globalization,Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Marc Edelman, Cristobal Kay (Eds.).Wiley-Blackwell (2008). 362 pp., £19.99 pbk, ISBN: 978-1-4051-9041-1

Transnational Agrarian Movements Confronting Globalization isa volume in which a number of research papers on transnationalAgrarian movements are presented from a global perspective. Theparticular aim of this volume is to introduce the readers to thepeasants and farmers who struggle at home and traverse nationalborders to challenge the World Trade Organization (WTO) andother powerful global institutions. The foreword of this volume iswritten by H. Bernstein and T. J. Byres who were the editors ofthe Journal of Peasant Studies and then the Journal of AgrarianChange in which most of the papers were published.

The volume explores the issue of ‘confronting globalization’ inthe context of South America (such as Brazil and Mexico), Asia(China, India, Philippines, Indonesia and Burma), and Africa (SouthAfrica). The introductory paper written by S M Borras Jr, M. Edel-man and C. Kay presents a brief history of global transnationalagrarian movements and explains their socio-economic, culturaland geographical consequences. The authors describe somecommon issues, claims and agendas, and explain the ideologicaland political differences of these movements and their strategies.This discussion is generally interesting and represents useful back-ground evidence for the reader. I agree with their view that it isdifficult to compile the whole range of socio-economic andcultural factors of these movements in a global context though Istill feel that the readers may spot gaps in insight relating to Asiancountries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Bangladesh. In secondchapter, P. McMichael describes how peasants make their ownhistory. He accurately mentions how capitalist modernity andthe WTO, IFM and EU in particular impacts on the movement. Itis true that Marxist ideology played a significant role but thismovement was interrupted by state politics where capitalistaggression was more successful. I would argue that the food secu-rity programme could not give freedom to the peasants but ratherthey became dependants on external institutions such as WTOand IFM. The peasant movements still exist in those Asian coun-tries where many agrarian issues such as land reform are notresolved yet.

From chapter three to eleven, the volume includes nine casestudy papers with examples of country contexts and themes ofthe agrarian movements. Within these papers the authors intro-duce a number of agrarian movements and show how these wereconfronted with processes of globalization. Peasants and global-ization is a debate for the ‘agrarian question’ from its earlyformulation in the late 19th century (Akram-Lodhi & Kay,2008). Central America was one of the key zones where contem-porary transnational peasant organizations emerged in theperiod from late 1980s to the mid-1990s (Chapter 3). A numberof movements were started in the international arenas such asthe Global Campaign for Agrarian Reform (GCAR) by La via

Campesina (Chapter 4), peasant networks and grassroots organi-zations in Brazil and South Africa (Chapter 5), and those mobi-lizing against genetically modified crops in India, South Africaand Brazil (Chapter 6). Chapter seven to eleven considersdifferent facets of agrarian movements such as issues of tradeand biotechnology in Latin America (Chapter 7), environmentalmovements in Indonesia (Chapter 8), local production fordistance consumers (Chapter 9), migrant organization and home-town impacts in Mexico (Chapter 10) and everyday politics inChina (Chapter 11). Most of these papers look at how these kindsof movements were run and affected by globalization at nationaland international political scales. In general these authors tend toanalyse the common influencing factors when comparing globalimpacts across countries, often at the expense of recognisingthe political, cultural and social circumstances that might differ-entiate them. A very interesting paper concludes the volume. Itsauthor K. Malseed shows how agrarian movements were inter-rupted by the military government in Burma and providessome guidelines as to how the peasants of Burma can initiatea movement for their freedom.

This volume contains a number of interesting areas of debatesurrounding transnational agrarian movements confronting global-ization. Nevertheless the editors miss one opportunity to put a briefconcluding chapter with a synthesising analysis, bringing out theconnections between the chapters. Notwithstanding this, thebook will be a useful reference and source for those students andresearchers working on these issues across the humanities andsocial sciences.

M. Rezaul IslamUNESCO Centre for Comparative Education Research,

School of Education, University of Nottingham,Wollaton Road,

Nottingham NG8 1BB, UKE-mail address: rezauldu@gmail.com

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2009.10.003

Alternative Food Geographies: Representation and Practice,D. Maye, L. Holloway, M. Kneafsey (Eds.). Elsevier, Oxford(2007). 358pp., £80.95 hbk, ISBN: 978-0-08-045018-6

This intelligent and thoughtful book will make compulsivereading for anyone interested in ‘local’, ‘sustainable’, ‘organic’ or‘slow’ food. These four production systems represent just some ofthe many faces of what has recently become known as the ‘alterna-tive’ food sector – and it’s a thriving industry.

It’s also a diverse industry, and it is this diversity of theory andpractice that this book deals with so well. At the heart of this editedbook is the question of ‘what is alternative’? With so many disparateapproaches to food production, consumption and marketing – from‘free-range’ to ‘organic’ and everything in between – how can wepossibly hope to identify a common version of ‘alternative’ that isacceptable to everyone?

The answer the book gives is, of course, that we can’t, because‘alternative’ food – just like its antithesis, ‘conventional’ food – isa relational concept, rather than a discrete and separate sectorthat exists in isolation from other parts of the food economy. Toquote the editors on this point: ‘‘Categorising spaces of economicactivity as part of either ‘alternative’ or ‘conventional’ systems ofsupply is too simplistic and arbitrary. Rather, we would argue thatfood provision in general is best understood in terms of the construc-tion of complex, changing and multiple sets of relationships. The

Book reviews / Journal of Rural Studies 26 (2010) 81–8484

discourses and practices adopted by actors operating within anyparticular field of activity may overlap, or interlink, with thediscourses and practices adopted by those operating in a supposedly‘opposing’ field of activity.’’ (p.16)

Edited books can often prove disappointing because the topicscovered and approaches adopted are so diverse that the readerstruggles to make sense of the connections between them.However, with ‘Alternative Food Geographies’ this diversity isa strength rather than a weakness. This is because, although thesubject matter ranges from social justice in relation to organicfood production, to vegetarianism and even the marketing andsale of Marks and Spencer’s free-range chicken, the theoreticalquestions raised by the editors in the introduction around the issueof ‘what is alternative’? reflect a common thread which runsthroughout the collection, with each case study offering a newperspective on the issue. Consequently, although this is a bookthat you can dip in and out of, as well as devour from cover to cover,you are more likely to find yourself wanting to read much morethan the particular chapter that made you pick up the book in thefirst case.

For clarity, the book is divided into three parts, with the first partfocusing on concepts and debates, the second part focusing onpublic policy and the third part on practising alternative food geog-raphies. However, just like the ‘conventional’ and ‘alternative’ foodsectors, the divide between these three sections is less than itappears and once again, you are likely to find yourself reading onas a result of sheer interest.

Indeed, one of the best things about this book is the balancebetween theoretical insights and practical case studies. As a reader,this means that you are constantly being presented with new ideasthat you subsequently find yourself testing out on many of the real-world case studies that are included here. This balance also makes

the book accessible to a wide audience – seasoned researchersworking in the field will doubtless be pleased to see an entirebook devoted to the subject of ‘alternative food’, while the clearstructure and (generally) well-written chapters should also beaccessible to students interested in food issues.

In short, then, this is a clever and interesting book that encom-passes many aspects of food research, from sustainability issuesthrough to questions of economics, health, ethics and social justice.Like many good texts, it is also more interested in raising questionsand provoking debate than offering easy answers. Not only does itpresent a comprehensive guide to the state of current researchand practice in the ‘alternative’ sector, it also identifieschallenges for the future – including the dilemma that many smallproducers face between staying small or scaling up and going‘mainstream’. (Although being published before the ‘credit crunch’means that it cannot offer any reflections on what the economicdownturn might hold in store for small and specialist foodproducers).

However, perhaps the acid test of an academic book is whether,having read it, you would consign it to the dusty recesses of thebookshelf, or pull it to the forefront, so that you can pick it up againand again. Obviously I can’t speak for others but, in my opinion, Ienjoyed this book and found it extremely useful. And yes, myreviewers’ copy will remain in a prominent position on my book-shelf for the foreseeable future.

Rebecca SimsLancaster Environment Centre,

Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UKE-mail address: r.sims@lancaster.ac.uk

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2009.10.004