Food sovereignty and the quinoa boom: challenges to sustainable re-peasantisation in the southern Altiplano of Bolivia

Abstract

In the last three decades, quinoa has gone from a globally obscure food to an internationally traded product with rising global consumer demand. This transformation has had complex social and ecological impacts on the indigenous agropastoral communities of the southern Altiplano region of Bolivia. This article analyses the role that global quinoa markets have played in the repopulation and revitalisation of this region, previously hollowed out by out-migration. Yet, it also points to a number of local tensions and contradictions generated or magnified by this process, as peasants struggle to harness the quinoa boom as a force of ‘sustainable re-peasantisation’ and ‘living well’. Finally, the article suggests that the food sovereignty movement should place greater emphasis on examining the culturally and historically specific challenges facing re-peasantisation in particular places.