Geopolitics and Food Sovereignty: Cuban Imaginaries

Abstract

ABSTRACT The everyday practice of food sovereignty varies across place, and efforts to democratize food systems and create more holistic and equitable forms of food production and access are highly politicized. Considering the “geo” of these practices assists with understanding how perceptions of place shape imaginaries about food sovereignty in place. Using the example of education-based food sovereignty tourism in Cuba I examine, in this paper, how outsiders from the US map geopolitical imaginaries onto Cuba in their efforts to see the “real Cuba” and authentic food sovereignty practices. I argue that the myopic character of food sovereignty tours creates a re-writing of space based on participants’ hopes and fears regarding agricultural production and consumption. Drawing on a feminist geopolitical framing, I use recent theorizations that consider geopolitical encounters via tourism to elucidate what I observed, which trended towards paternalistic geopolitical imaginaries of Cuba.