Policy Press

Organizing Food, Faith and Freedom

Imagining Alternatives

By Ozan Alakavuklar

Published

May 30, 2024

Page count

192 pages

Browse the series

Organizations and Activism

ISBN

978-1529216233

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

May 30, 2024

Page count

192 pages

Browse the series

Organizations and Activism

ISBN

978-1529216257

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

May 30, 2024

Page count

192 pages

Browse the series

Organizations and Activism

ISBN

978-1529216257

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Organizing Food, Faith and Freedom

Consumerism, unsustainable growth, waste and inequalities continue to ail societies across the globe, but creative collectives have been tackling these issues at a grassroots level.

Based on an autoethnographic study about a free food store in Aotearoa New Zealand, this book presents a first-hand account of how a community is organized around surplus food to deal with food poverty, while also helping the reader to see through the complexity that brings the free food store to life.

Examining how alternative economies and relations emerge from these community solutions, the author shows it is possible to think, act and organize differently within and beyond capitalist dynamics.

“Is it possible to escape value as the dominant social form, shaping all social relations under capitalism? What would social relations then look like? Alakavuklar takes us into the free food store, where food is decommodified and its circulation organized through faith and community. He offers us a much-needed account of the power of alternatives: highly political, self-reflexive and hopeful.” Patrizia Zanoni, Hasselt University

“This remarkable book represents a generational shift in organizational scholarship. Alakavuklar examines newer ways of aligning research, teaching, activism and personal subjectivity in the pursuit of a more equitable world.” Raza Mir, William Paterson University

Ozan Nadir Alakavuklar is Associate Professor of Organization Studies in the School of Governance at Utrecht University.

1. Introduction

2. In Search of Alternatives Across the Bridge

3. Genesis – How Would Jesus Redistribute Bread?

4. There Is Such Thing As Free Lunch, but…

5. Take What You Need

6. After the Free Food Store – Beyond Going Native to Building Bridges

7. Still in Search of Alternatives: Do We Have an Answer Yet?