Abstracts Anthropology

Reclaiming the future through Small-Scale Agriculture: Autonomy and Sustainability in the Caribbean

by Dana M https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8276-4095 Conzo

My dissertation, “Reclaiming the future through Small-Scale Agriculture: Autonomy and Sustainability in the Caribbean,” is a political-economic analysis of land politics, foodscapes and foodsheds, and small-scale agricultural activities in plantation economies on the Caribbean island of St Kitts. Using ethnographic and geographic methods, such as participant observation, interviews, social network analysis, and foodshed mapping, I investigate the cultural and economic niche of local farmers, documented and analyzed the island’s foodshed, and provide a historical and economic background of St Kitts to link historical processes to contemporary spatial organization and agricultural practices. I consider the complexities of food inequalities and food sovereignty as farming and food production is and has been both a tool of oppression and one of individual and community empowerment for BIPOC communities. The findings contribute to discussions on economic anthropology, autonomy, food insecurity, land and labor politics, and globalization. This project has an applied contribution as it highlights means of navigating food insecurity, improving economic and agricultural policies, and promoting environmental, cultural, and economic sustainability.