Papers by Agatha Herman
Progress in Environmental Geography, 2025
The increasing visibility of veganism and plant-based eating makes it timely for environmental ge... more The increasing visibility of veganism and plant-based eating makes it timely for environmental geographers to critically engage with these unfolding debates. In this review, we unpack the complex socio-environmental entanglements of contemporary vegan food practices (VFPs), drawing on food geography literature to reflect on the extent to which veganism can, and does, challenge and transform the hegemonic industrial globalised food system. We consider the productive conversations to be had with sustainability, food sovereignty, food justice and vegetal geographies in promoting the collective potential of VFPs beyond the individualisation of mainstreamed, ‘plant-based’ business-as-usual; re-centring production, hitherto relatively invisible in the hegemonic consideration of veganism as just consumption praxis; and engaging with ‘multi-elemental’ plant ethics. This offers a cross-pollination of ideas through a focus on the geographies of veganism, which promotes the development of relational, placed and scaled analyses of vegan identities, experiences and practices while also bridging the intradisciplinary silos within environmental geography. Engaging with the geographies of veganism offers a timely and grounded lens to critically interrogate key contemporary debates around diverse knowledges, sustainability and justice. As such, the alternative ways of doing, being and relating offered by VFPs show real potential for hopeful, responsive and constructive research.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 2024
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).
Community resilience is widely understood as a critical element in the relatively under-explored ... more Community resilience is widely understood as a critical element in the relatively under-explored concept of social resilience. Through engaging with ‘more-than-human’ literatures, a more expansive view of the ‘social’ emerges, which repositions individuals as networked and agency as relational. This moves resilience away from its hegemonic positioning as a neoliberal strategy of individualisation and responsibilisation, with it instead emerging as an everyday ‘doing’ embedded in the human and non-human networks of relationality that we form and are formed by. The paper develops this socio-cultural conceptualisation through an original and empirically grounded discussion of Finnish farm communities and the role of the forest in developing, maintaining and enhancing these essential, connective assemblages. Resilience becomes conceptualised as dynamic, uneven, multiple and contextual performances or resiliences. While this further problematizes the comparative measurement and operationalisation of resilience, its networked and relational nature arguably offers a more inclusive and ethically grounded concept that, furthermore, negates the socio-ecological divide that persists in resilience thinking.
... HYPERLINK \l "_Toc258501988" **Figure 23 (i) M'hudi Farm (ii) Pack... more ... HYPERLINK \l "_Toc258501988" **Figure 23 (i) M'hudi Farm (ii) Pack Shots * PAGEREF _Toc258501988 \h **121**. * HYPERLINK \l "_Toc258501989" **Figure 24 Diagram of M'hudi Stakeholders * PAGEREF _Toc258501989 \h **123**. ...
Faith-based organisations and exclusion in European cities
CITATIONS 2 READS 26 4 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these... more CITATIONS 2 READS 26 4 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: SELFCITY: Collective governance, innovation and creativity in the face of climate change View project
Although certified Fairtrade continues to use discourses of defetishization, its move into mainst... more Although certified Fairtrade continues to use discourses of defetishization, its move into mainstream markets has acted to refetishize the consumer–producer relationship through the use of a standardized label, which acts as a substitute for engaged knowledges. Through Fairhills, a South African Fairtrade wine project, this paper explores the contextual complexity on the producer side of the commodity network. By incorporating the national discourse of Black Economic Empowerment into its operations, both in Fairhills and in South Africa in general, Fairtrade has adapted to this context, ensuring its relevance and credibility to stakeholders. However, in the UK, little more information than that commonly associated with Fairtrade is offered to Fairhills consumers. The particular market challenges facing Fairtrade wine in the UK make this negotiation between regulation and representation extremely pertinent. A productive way forward may be to conceptualize commodity fetishism as a continuum rather than a binary particularly when considering the difficult balance required when adding complexity to the targeted message of the existing label. This strategy for the sustainability of Fairtrade may be enhanced by utilizing the micro-level dynamism and adaptability that this paper shows is inherent, and indeed essential, to the durability and transferability of the discourse of Fairtrade.
The practices and decision-making of contemporary agricultural producers are governed by a multit... more The practices and decision-making of contemporary agricultural producers are governed by a multitude of different, and sometimes competing, social, economic, regulatory, environmental and ethical imperatives. Understanding how they negotiate and adapt to the demands of this complex and dynamic environment is crucial in maintaining an economically and environmentally viable and resilient agricultural sector. This paper takes a socio-cultural approach to explore the development of social resilience within agriculture through an original and empirically grounded discussion of people–place connections amongst UK farmers. It positions enchantment as central in shaping farmers' embodied and experiential connections with their farms through establishing hopeful, disruptive and demanding ethical practices. Farms emerge as complex moral economies in which an expanded conceptualisation of the social entangles human and non-human actants in dynamic and contextual webs of power and responsibility. While acknowledging that all farms are embedded within broader, nested levels, this paper argues that it is at the micro-scale that the personal, contingent and embodied relations that connect farmers to their farms are experienced and which, in turn, govern their capacity to develop social resilience.
The military offers a form of welfare-for-work but when personnel leave they lose this safety ne... more The military offers a form of welfare-for-work but when personnel leave they lose this safety net, a loss exacerbated by the rollback neoliberalism of the contemporary welfare state. Increasingly the third sector has stepped in to address veterans’ welfare needs through operating within and across military/civilian and state/market/community spaces and cultures. In this paper we use both veterans’ and military charities’ experiences to analyse the complex politics that govern the liminal boundary zone of post-military welfare. Through exploring ‘crossing’ and ‘bridging’ we conceptualise military charities as ‘boundary subjects’, active yet dependent on the continuation of the civilian-military binary, and argue that the latter is better understood as a multidirectional, multiscalar and contextual continuum. Post-military welfare emerges as a competitive, confused and confusing assemblage that needs to be made more navigable in order to better support the ‘heroic poor’.
Empowerment is a standard but ambiguous element of development rhetoric and so, through the socia... more Empowerment is a standard but ambiguous element of development rhetoric and so, through the socially complex and contested terrain of South Africa, this paper explores its potential to contribute to inclusive development. Investigating microlevel
engagements with the national strategy of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) in the South African wine industry highlights the limitations, but also potential, of this single-domain approach. However, latent paternalism, entrenched interests, and a ‘dislocated blackness’ maintain a complex racial politics that shapes both power relations and the opportunities for transformation within the industry. Nonetheless, while B-BBEE may not, in reality, be broad-based its manifestations are contributing to challenging racist structures and normalising changing attitudes. This paper concludes that, to be transformative, empowerment needs to be reembedded within South Africa as a multiscalar, multidimensional dialogue and, while recognising the continuation of structural constraints, positions the local as the critical scale at which to initiate broader social change.
Military geographies are everywhere and, even when military power has been removed, continue to s... more Military geographies are everywhere and, even when military power has been removed, continue to shape lives and environments. This paper addresses a gap in the literatures by exploring the spatiality of (post)military identities, demonstrating the continuing impact of having been part of the military community despite the passage of time. Our tri-service respondents highlighted the challenges faced even by those deemed to have 'successfully' transitioned to 'Civvy Street', articulating discourses of loss and separation. While some had achieved closure with their past military selves, others struggled and became stuck in a liminal space between civilian and military lives that perpetuated feelings of isolation. Our work contributions to understandings of military geographies and highlights the importance of conceptualising post-institutional transitions as a process in order to understand how individuals negotiate their identities in changing spatial circumstances.
Close to two decades ago, Sarah Whatmore and Lorraine used fair trade (hereafter 'FT') coffee to ... more Close to two decades ago, Sarah Whatmore and Lorraine used fair trade (hereafter 'FT') coffee to introduce the relatively novel theoretical device of actor-network theory (ANT) to the political economies of food. At the same time, they used it to illustrate what Peter Evans has called the rise of the 'counter-hegemonic globalisation' movement. So, as well as providing one of the earliest academic descriptions of a FT network, through their analysis, they worked to elaborate a "topological spatial imagination concerned with tracing points of connections and lines of flow, as opposed to reiterating fixed surfaces and boundaries" (Whatmore and Thorne 1997, p. 289; original emphasis). Yet, what are these points of connections and lines of flow, and, most notably, how do they work? And, importantly, how do they do this work in a much more contemporary context as FT has moved into the 'everyday' supply chains for supermarkets, corner stores and institutions across the UK and Europe? This chapter analyses the shifting temporal and spatial practices that have given shape to and animated these alternative connections and flows in FT's agro-food networks.
This paper explores the spaces and power relations of ethical foodscapes. Ethics can offer a comm... more This paper explores the spaces and power relations of ethical foodscapes. Ethics can offer a commodity a valuable unique selling point in a competitive marketplace but managing the changeable and multiple motivations for stakeholder participation throughout the commodity chain in order to utilise this opportunity is a complex negotiation. Through exploring the spaces and relations within three South African-UK ethical wine networks, the discursive tactics used to sustain these are uncovered. The discourses of Fairtrade, Black Economic Empowerment and organics are highly adaptive, interacting with each other in such a way as to always be contextually appealing. This 'tactical mutability' is combined with 'scales of knowing', which, this paper argues, are essential for network durability. 'Scales of knowing' refers to the recognition by stakeholders of the potential for different articulations of a discourse within the network, which combines with 'tactical mutability' to allow for a scalar, contextual and 'knowing' (im)mutability to ensure the discourse's continued appeal.
Changes in the cultures and spaces of death during the Victorian era reveal the shifting conceptu... more Changes in the cultures and spaces of death during the Victorian era reveal the shifting conceptualisations and mobilisations of class in this period. Using the example of Brookwood Necropolis, established 1852 in response to the contemporary burial reform debate, the paper explores tensions within the sanitary reform movement, . Whilst reformist ideology grounded the cemetery's practices in a discourse of inclusion, one of the consequences of reform was to reinforce class distinctions. Combined with commercial imperatives and the modern impulse towards separation of living and dead, this aspect of reform enacted a counter-discourse of alienation.
Book Reviews by Agatha Herman
Fair Trade and the Citizen-Consumer: shopping for justice? Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmi... more Fair Trade and the Citizen-Consumer: shopping for justice? Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-230-30142-9 (hbk). xi + 219 pp. A thoroughly engaging read, Fair Trade and the Citizen-Consumer provides critical insights into the 'everyday social flow[s] and "do-ability" of consumer practices and performances' (p.181) of fair-trade consumption. This in-depth, contextually-grounded and culturally-situated investigation into fairtrade and, importantly, non-fair-trade consumers problematizes the dominant framing within studies of ethical consumption and activist discourses of the individual citizen-consumer as an active agent for change. Wheeler's 'disturbance' of the neo-liberal figure of the citizen-consumer works to fill in
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Papers by Agatha Herman
engagements with the national strategy of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) in the South African wine industry highlights the limitations, but also potential, of this single-domain approach. However, latent paternalism, entrenched interests, and a ‘dislocated blackness’ maintain a complex racial politics that shapes both power relations and the opportunities for transformation within the industry. Nonetheless, while B-BBEE may not, in reality, be broad-based its manifestations are contributing to challenging racist structures and normalising changing attitudes. This paper concludes that, to be transformative, empowerment needs to be reembedded within South Africa as a multiscalar, multidimensional dialogue and, while recognising the continuation of structural constraints, positions the local as the critical scale at which to initiate broader social change.
Book Reviews by Agatha Herman
engagements with the national strategy of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) in the South African wine industry highlights the limitations, but also potential, of this single-domain approach. However, latent paternalism, entrenched interests, and a ‘dislocated blackness’ maintain a complex racial politics that shapes both power relations and the opportunities for transformation within the industry. Nonetheless, while B-BBEE may not, in reality, be broad-based its manifestations are contributing to challenging racist structures and normalising changing attitudes. This paper concludes that, to be transformative, empowerment needs to be reembedded within South Africa as a multiscalar, multidimensional dialogue and, while recognising the continuation of structural constraints, positions the local as the critical scale at which to initiate broader social change.