Context-specific notions and practices of ‘solidarity’ in food procurement networks in Lombardy (Italy) and Massachusetts (USA)

Abstract

Building on unpublished ethnography conducted in Massachusetts, 2011–2014, this chapter compares and contrasts context-specific notions and practices of ‘solidarity’ among collaborative networks that are active in organizing alternative forms of food procurement. The terms of comparison is Grasseni’s (Beyond alternative food networks: Italy’s solidarity purchase groups. London: Bloomsbury, 2013) ethnography of Italian Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, or Solidarity Purchase Groups in northern Italy. Recent ethnographic examples from Italy – concerning especially cooperatives – are contrasted with the US solidarity economy network in the context of the Boston local food movement and Massachusetts community-supported agriculture. The chapter unravels and juxtapose different conceptions, discourse and relevant practices of solidarity in collaborative networks that self-define as ‘solidarity economy networks’ or as ‘solidarity and green economy’ alliances, in order to show how context-bound the meaning of solidarity in collective food procurement is. By showing how ‘solidarity’ translates into different local solutions and social movements, the chapter highlights the sociocultural dimensions of these local experiments in food system transformations.