The Slow Food Movement and the Terra-Madre project: Food sovereignty and translocal assemblages

Since 2004 the SF Movement has developed a global community of food producers and activists called Terra-Madre. Every two years representatives of the community meet in Turin for five days of workshops and conferences. Due to Covid-19 crisis SF has radically changed the nature of the meeting, presenting a six-month calendar of digital and physical events around the world. The paper examines the exchange occurring between communities as a form of translocal activism and considers to what extent SF can be defined as a movement for food sovereignty. It draws on digital data collection on the online activities and research with participants involving semi-structured interviews and observation notes. The paper reflects on the experience of digital fieldwork and how the new format of Terra-Madre provides insights into SF as a translocal movement characterized by conflicts, common perspectives and emergent capabilities.