Cultivating Socialism: Venezuela, Alba, and the Politics of Food Sovereignty (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780820357942)

Launched in 2004, the Latin American regional institution of ALBA (Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra Am駻ica: Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) sought to overcome the historical legacies of neocolonial domination by consecrating the values of cooperation, inclusive development, and popular power.

As part of a region-wide effort among states and social movements to break out of the the destructive effects of capitalist agriculture, the elevation of food sovereignty--based on the protection of rural livelihoods, land redistribution, and sustainable agricultural production (agroecology)--became a cornerstone of ALBA's development policy. And yet, these regional aspirations barely saw the light of day, while Venezuela (the beating heart of ALBA) experienced the worst food crisis in its history. How did this come to pass?

Based on extensive fieldwork in Venezuela, where the majority of ALBA's food policies reside, Cultivating Socialism provides the first in-depth study of the ways in which peasants, workers, and states working through ALBA attempted to redress the inequities of commercial agriculture and the limits and contradictions encountered on the road to a regional food sovereignty regime. With his analysis of the politics of food sovereignty within ALBA, Rowan Lubbock offers important lessons about how we might think about emancipatory politics today and in the future.

Author: Rowan Lubbock
ISBN-10: 0820357944
ISBN-13: 9780820357942
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Language: English
Published: 05/15/2024
Pages: 238
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.78lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.54d