Growing roots: migration, food and agriculture in an urban garden squat
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56247/qua.469Keywords:
Urban agriculture, food sovereignty, migration, organic produce, pollutionAbstract
This article reflects on food, culture and health based on the experience of an urban garden squat with a high migrant participation. For almost three years, the Horta Alliberada de Sant Cugat (HA) has been a space where more than 60 mostly Latin American migrant families have grown crops in plots of 20m2. The ethnographic research explores urban agriculture as a sphere where the countries of origin are recreated by reproducing landscapes, food practices and cultural traditions. It is also a space where bonds and networks of solidarity between ‘countrywomen’ are created and strengthened. Cultivation in this space invites us to reflect on food sovereignty and the importance of food in the (re)production of identity. The HA, despite being located on former industrial land, is conceptualized by the gardeners as a regenerating ecological space that contributes positively to the environment. The purpose of this article is to explore the role of migrant identity in food and in urban agriculture, explore the concept of food sovereignty and examine the contradictions of the construction of a narrative of ecological and healthy cultivation that minimizes the perception of the risk of toxic contamination.
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