Jacob Smessaert
Biographic Data
| ID | 1601942 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jacob Smessaert |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jacob |
| FAMILY NAME | Smessaert |
| SIGNATURE | SMESSAERT J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2380-7029 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
On the practices of autonomous more-than-human political communities
This article analyzes how autonomous more-than-human political communities emerge in practice. We study an agro-ecosystem in the Catalan Sub-Pyrenees, where a peasant land use cooperative runs a regenerative farm. Through interviews and observations, we map and explore different more-than-human alliances, solidarities, and contradictory and conflictual relationships. We discuss the political practices through which this political community is con…
Becoming‐Interdependent: Democratic Praxis In‐Against‐and‐Beyond Capitalism in Agrifood Collectives
This paper contributes to debates on autonomous geographies by foregrounding and analysing democratic praxis in two grassroots agrifood collectives to interrogate the ways in which it constitutes a vehicle for postcapitalist transformation. We focus on the negotiation and (re)distribution of power (Case Study 1) and the politicisation of ambiguous human–more‐than‐human entanglements (Case Study 2) and find that the dynamics and frictions these co…
Initiating transformation within a Dutch grassroots agri-food initiative: An analysis of social processes
This article brings new empirical evidence and nuanced reflections on the social processes of transformation within grassroots agri-food initiatives that propose relocalised, decentralised and autonomous ways of organising around food systems. We facilitated and analysed a fieldlab on the initial phase of designing a participatory guarantee system with a Dutch consumer-buying group (CBG) who explored ways to define, measure and assess sustainable…
Building solidarities and alliances between degrowth and food sovereignty movements
Degrowth and food sovereignty movements share commitments to social-ecological transformation, democracy and the flourishing of human and non-human life. Encounters between the two movements have been relatively limited, however. This contribution is based on a literature review and a workshop held at the 9th International Degrowth Conference in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2023, where activists, academics, and practitioners collectively explored alliance…
Beyond Statism and Deliberation: Questioning Ecological Democracy through Eco-Anarchism and Cosmopolitics
This paper decentres the predominance of statism and deliberation in ecological democracy scholarship. We use insights from eco-anarchism and cosmopolitics to identify democratic configurations beyond capitalism and its entanglement with the nation-state. These configurations are premised on the idea that sustainability transformation not only implies a move beyond capitalism and the nation-state, but might comprise their dismantling. We propose …
Degrowth and agri-food systems: A research agenda for the critical social sciences
Degrowth has become a recognised paradigm for identifying and critiquing systemic unsustainability rooted in the capitalist, growth-compelled economy. Increasingly, degrowth is discussed in relation to specific economic sectors such as the agri-food system. This paper builds on the foundational work of Gerber (2020) and Nelson and Edwards (2021). While both publications take a rather specific analytical or disciplinary focus—the former specifical…
The commodification of nature, a review in social sciences
Degrowth and agri-food systems: A research agenda for the critical social sciences
Degrowth has become a recognised paradigm for identifying and critiquing systemic unsustainability rooted in the capitalist, growth-compelled economy. Increasingly, degrowth is discussed in relation to specific economic sectors such as the agri-food system. This paper builds on the foundational work of Gerber (2020) and Nelson and Edwards (2021). While both publications take a rather specific analytical or disciplinary focus—the former specifical…
Becoming‐Interdependent: Democratic Praxis In‐Against‐and‐Beyond Capitalism in Agrifood Collectives
This paper contributes to debates on autonomous geographies by foregrounding and analysing democratic praxis in two grassroots agrifood collectives to interrogate the ways in which it constitutes a vehicle for postcapitalist transformation. We focus on the negotiation and (re)distribution of power (Case Study 1) and the politicisation of ambiguous human–more‐than‐human entanglements (Case Study 2) and find that the dynamics and frictions these co…
Building solidarities and alliances between degrowth and food sovereignty movements
Degrowth and food sovereignty movements share commitments to social-ecological transformation, democracy and the flourishing of human and non-human life. Encounters between the two movements have been relatively limited, however. This contribution is based on a literature review and a workshop held at the 9th International Degrowth Conference in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2023, where activists, academics, and practitioners collectively explored alliance…
The commodification of nature, a review in social sciences
Beyond Statism and Deliberation: Questioning Ecological Democracy through Eco-Anarchism and Cosmopolitics
This paper decentres the predominance of statism and deliberation in ecological democracy scholarship. We use insights from eco-anarchism and cosmopolitics to identify democratic configurations beyond capitalism and its entanglement with the nation-state. These configurations are premised on the idea that sustainability transformation not only implies a move beyond capitalism and the nation-state, but might comprise their dismantling. We propose …
Degrowth and agri-food systems: A research agenda for the critical social sciences
Degrowth has become a recognised paradigm for identifying and critiquing systemic unsustainability rooted in the capitalist, growth-compelled economy. Increasingly, degrowth is discussed in relation to specific economic sectors such as the agri-food system. This paper builds on the foundational work of Gerber (2020) and Nelson and Edwards (2021). While both publications take a rather specific analytical or disciplinary focus—the former specifical…
Becoming‐Interdependent: Democratic Praxis In‐Against‐and‐Beyond Capitalism in Agrifood Collectives
This paper contributes to debates on autonomous geographies by foregrounding and analysing democratic praxis in two grassroots agrifood collectives to interrogate the ways in which it constitutes a vehicle for postcapitalist transformation. We focus on the negotiation and (re)distribution of power (Case Study 1) and the politicisation of ambiguous human–more‐than‐human entanglements (Case Study 2) and find that the dynamics and frictions these co…
Initiating transformation within a Dutch grassroots agri-food initiative: An analysis of social processes
This article brings new empirical evidence and nuanced reflections on the social processes of transformation within grassroots agri-food initiatives that propose relocalised, decentralised and autonomous ways of organising around food systems. We facilitated and analysed a fieldlab on the initial phase of designing a participatory guarantee system with a Dutch consumer-buying group (CBG) who explored ways to define, measure and assess sustainable…
Building solidarities and alliances between degrowth and food sovereignty movements
Degrowth and food sovereignty movements share commitments to social-ecological transformation, democracy and the flourishing of human and non-human life. Encounters between the two movements have been relatively limited, however. This contribution is based on a literature review and a workshop held at the 9th International Degrowth Conference in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2023, where activists, academics, and practitioners collectively explored alliance…
On the practices of autonomous more-than-human political communities
This article analyzes how autonomous more-than-human political communities emerge in practice. We study an agro-ecosystem in the Catalan Sub-Pyrenees, where a peasant land use cooperative runs a regenerative farm. Through interviews and observations, we map and explore different more-than-human alliances, solidarities, and contradictory and conflictual relationships. We discuss the political practices through which this political community is con…
Political science (6 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Biology (3 works) · Ecology (3 works) · Economics (3 works) · Organic Food and Agriculture (3 works) · Politics (3 works) · Sustainability (3 works) · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development (2 works) · Business (2 works)