Marja Spierenburg | Leiden University (original) (raw)

Journal Papers by Marja Spierenburg

Organization, 2020

This is the first special issue of any organisation studies journal on food labour. Why is this a... more This is the first special issue of any organisation studies journal on food labour. Why is this a big deal? In this Introduction, we argue that the field should pay much more attention to the agri-food system and the work that goes into producing, distributing and consuming foodstuff. Food is such an all-important, basic ingredient to human existence, incorporating a vast web of organisational processes that are constantly changing, being contested at all scales. Whether subsistence peasants, new-age community foodies, massive food logistics companies, Deliveroo dark kitchens or Uber Eats cyclists-there is a huge amount of labour everywhere in the agri-food system. Food labour is so vast, this special issue can only begin lifting the lid. In this Introduction, we provide an overview of the current scholarly work on food labour. We identify some of the historical contexts and struggles that have led to the agri-food system in existence today. We identify food labour types, particularly focusing on those that are vanishing or emerging, crucially asking why these transitions are taking place. We also engage with the various resistances expressed by people against the ever globalising agri-food system, outlining logics for the emergence of alternative food movements. Finally, we introduce each of the seven papers collated in this Special Issue, all of which, we hope, will provide food for thought to all of us who tend to have three meals a day without thinking too much about the labour that goes into our grub.

Papers by Marja Spierenburg

Ecosystems and people, Jan 29, 2023

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Feb 1, 2012

The Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), a new initiative within the ICSU global chang... more The Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), a new initiative within the ICSU global change programs, aims to integrate research on the stewardship of social-ecological systems, the services they generate, and the relationships among natural capital, human wellbeing, livelihoods, inequality and poverty. The vision of PECS is a world where human actions have transformed to achieve sustainable stewardship of social-ecological systems. The goal of PECS is to generate the scientific and policy-relevant knowledge of socialecological dynamics needed to enable such a shift, including mitigation of poverty. PECS is a coordinating body for diverse independently funded research projects, not a funder of research. PECS research employs a range of transdisciplinary approaches and methods, with comparative, place-based research that is international in scope at the core.

Ecosystems and people, Oct 30, 2022

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of t... more The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES research has also deepened over the past decade, and helped to shed light on key dimensions of SES dynamics (e.g. system feedbacks, aspects of system design, goals and paradigms) that can lead to tangible action for solving the major sustainability challenges of our time. We suggest four ways in which the growth of place-based SES research, fostered by networks such as PECS, has contributed to these developments, namely by: 1) shedding light on transformational change, 2) revealing the social dynamics shaping SES, 3) bringing together diverse types of knowledge, and 4) encouraging reflexive researchers.

Routledge eBooks, Dec 21, 2022

Journal of Modern African Studies, 2007

  troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribu... more   troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribution. Mozambique's is an important and understudied experience, and Alden uses it to craft a thoughtful cautionary account of the limits of negotiated peace and economic and political liberalism in Africa. It is in highlighting the extensive international intervention this model requires that the book makes its greatest impact. It is not always clear, however, whether the main problem is that the model is infeasible, has never been properly carried out, or is undesirable even if it could be properly implemented. Nor does the author indicate the elements of a more desirable approach. And while the book does a good job of outlining international involvement in Mozambique's threefold transition over the past decade, the evaluation of the results for domestic politics is at times somewhat superficial. Nor is it informed by any substantive exploration of the mechanisms or dynamics of social and political change in general, and of liberalism in particular. Political, sociological and economic accounts of institution-building, for example, suggest that habituation to new sets of rules is a long-term, non-linear process, in which rules are introduced and imperfectly practised and only gradually internalised. Where then should we look for evidence of change in the short term ? Though the establishment of formal democratic institutions and market-based economies have, unsurprisingly, failed to transform Mozambican politics in this period, the placing of such reforms on the table has served to create political space and has brought to the surface fundamental struggles over both the principles and practice of allocating political and economic resources. Political assassinations, violent demonstrations and electoral boycotts provide striking and disturbing evidence of these struggles. But less visible outcomes can also be found. Mozambique's tough-minded independent media, while resting on a slender base, has had measurable impact on the way in which the business of politics is conducted in Mozambique. The advent of electoral competition has occasioned subtle but important changes in the balance of power within both major parties. There is of course no telling what might be the end result of these changes. But they deserve more thorough consideration than they are given here.

Journal of Modern African Studies, Sep 1, 2002

  troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribu... more   troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribution. Mozambique's is an important and understudied experience, and Alden uses it to craft a thoughtful cautionary account of the limits of negotiated peace and economic and political liberalism in Africa. It is in highlighting the extensive international intervention this model requires that the book makes its greatest impact. It is not always clear, however, whether the main problem is that the model is infeasible, has never been properly carried out, or is undesirable even if it could be properly implemented. Nor does the author indicate the elements of a more desirable approach. And while the book does a good job of outlining international involvement in Mozambique's threefold transition over the past decade, the evaluation of the results for domestic politics is at times somewhat superficial. Nor is it informed by any substantive exploration of the mechanisms or dynamics of social and political change in general, and of liberalism in particular. Political, sociological and economic accounts of institution-building, for example, suggest that habituation to new sets of rules is a long-term, non-linear process, in which rules are introduced and imperfectly practised and only gradually internalised. Where then should we look for evidence of change in the short term ? Though the establishment of formal democratic institutions and market-based economies have, unsurprisingly, failed to transform Mozambican politics in this period, the placing of such reforms on the table has served to create political space and has brought to the surface fundamental struggles over both the principles and practice of allocating political and economic resources. Political assassinations, violent demonstrations and electoral boycotts provide striking and disturbing evidence of these struggles. But less visible outcomes can also be found. Mozambique's tough-minded independent media, while resting on a slender base, has had measurable impact on the way in which the business of politics is conducted in Mozambique. The advent of electoral competition has occasioned subtle but important changes in the balance of power within both major parties. There is of course no telling what might be the end result of these changes. But they deserve more thorough consideration than they are given here.

Ecosystems and People

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of t... more The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES research has also deepened over the past decade, and helped to shed light on key dimensions of SES dynamics (e.g. system feedbacks, aspects of system design, goals and paradigms) that can lead to tangible action for solving the major sustainability challenges of our time. We suggest four ways in which the growth of place-based SES research, fostered by networks such as PECS, has contributed to these developments, namely by: 1) shedding light on transformational change, 2) revealing the social dynamics shaping SES, 3) bringing together diverse types of knowledge, and 4) encouraging reflexive researchers.

Engaged Scholarship and Emancipation

This collective volume celebrates that 75 years ago the foundation was laid for the Department of... more This collective volume celebrates that 75 years ago the foundation was laid for the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Former and current staff members reflect on the changing meaning of engaged scholarship in relation to emancipatory issues. They offer a rich variety of essays about the shifting tension between engagement, emancipation and academic scholarship over the years.

Eighth Workshop on Computing within Limits 2022

Competing Jurisdictions, 2005

International business scholars are increasingly calling for more awareness of the local context ... more International business scholars are increasingly calling for more awareness of the local context in which international entrepreneurs pursue business opportunities. In this paper, we respond to this call, arguing that an entrepreneur’s business network engenders self-sustaining dynamics that bear upon the entrepreneurial opportunity itself. We conclude that the dynamics that we observe can be interpreted as ‘multidimensional embeddedness’. Through a qualitative inquiry, we study how a Korean entrepreneur seeking to establish an agri-business venture in Cambodia embeds himself in the local business environment as a means to create an opportunity structure. We analyze how the international business venture initially thrived but ultimately failed, attributing these outcomes to the entrepreneur’s multidimensional embeddedness in the wider business environment. In so doing, we contribute a critical perspective to entrepreneurship research, widening the prevailing individualistic focus on...

Ngoma «Se Born-Again Fundamentalism Contesting représentations of time in urban Malawi Rijk van D... more Ngoma «Se Born-Again Fundamentalism Contesting représentations of time in urban Malawi Rijk van Dijk Anthropology will survive in a changing world by allowing itself to perish m order to be born again under a new guise.

This brief manifesto signed by 173 Netherlands-based scholars working on issues around developmen... more This brief manifesto signed by 173 Netherlands-based scholars working on issues around development aims to summarize what we know to be critical and successful policy strategies for moving forward during and after the crisis. We propose five key policy proposals for a post-COVID-19 development model, all of which can be implemented immediately and sustained after this particular crisis has subsided: 1) a move away from development focused on aggregate GDP growth to differentiate among sectors that can grow and need investment (the so-called critical public sectors, and clean energy, education, health and more) and sectors that need to radically degrow due to their fundamental unsustainability or their role in driving continuous and excessive consumption (especially private sector oil, gas, mining, advertising, and so forth); 2) an economic framework focused on redistribution, which establishes a universal basic income rooted in a universal social policy system, a strong progressive taxation of income, profits and wealth, reduced working hours and job sharing, and recognizes care work and essential public services such as health and education for their intrinsic value; 3) agricultural transformation towards regenerative agriculture based on biodiversity conservation, sustainable and mostly local and vegetarian food production, as well as fair agricultural employment conditions and wages; 4) reduction of consumption and travel, with a drastic shift from luxury and wasteful consumption and travel to basic, necessary, sustainable and satisfying consumption and travel; 5) debt cancellation, especially for workers and small business owners and for countries in the global south (both from richer countries and international financial institutions)

Organization, 2020

This is the first special issue of any organisation studies journal on food labour. Why is this a... more This is the first special issue of any organisation studies journal on food labour. Why is this a big deal? In this Introduction, we argue that the field should pay much more attention to the agri-food system and the work that goes into producing, distributing and consuming foodstuff. Food is such an all-important, basic ingredient to human existence, incorporating a vast web of organisational processes that are constantly changing, being contested at all scales. Whether subsistence peasants, new-age community foodies, massive food logistics companies, Deliveroo dark kitchens or Uber Eats cyclists-there is a huge amount of labour everywhere in the agri-food system. Food labour is so vast, this special issue can only begin lifting the lid. In this Introduction, we provide an overview of the current scholarly work on food labour. We identify some of the historical contexts and struggles that have led to the agri-food system in existence today. We identify food labour types, particularly focusing on those that are vanishing or emerging, crucially asking why these transitions are taking place. We also engage with the various resistances expressed by people against the ever globalising agri-food system, outlining logics for the emergence of alternative food movements. Finally, we introduce each of the seven papers collated in this Special Issue, all of which, we hope, will provide food for thought to all of us who tend to have three meals a day without thinking too much about the labour that goes into our grub.

Ecosystems and people, Jan 29, 2023

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Feb 1, 2012

The Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), a new initiative within the ICSU global chang... more The Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), a new initiative within the ICSU global change programs, aims to integrate research on the stewardship of social-ecological systems, the services they generate, and the relationships among natural capital, human wellbeing, livelihoods, inequality and poverty. The vision of PECS is a world where human actions have transformed to achieve sustainable stewardship of social-ecological systems. The goal of PECS is to generate the scientific and policy-relevant knowledge of socialecological dynamics needed to enable such a shift, including mitigation of poverty. PECS is a coordinating body for diverse independently funded research projects, not a funder of research. PECS research employs a range of transdisciplinary approaches and methods, with comparative, place-based research that is international in scope at the core.

Ecosystems and people, Oct 30, 2022

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of t... more The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES research has also deepened over the past decade, and helped to shed light on key dimensions of SES dynamics (e.g. system feedbacks, aspects of system design, goals and paradigms) that can lead to tangible action for solving the major sustainability challenges of our time. We suggest four ways in which the growth of place-based SES research, fostered by networks such as PECS, has contributed to these developments, namely by: 1) shedding light on transformational change, 2) revealing the social dynamics shaping SES, 3) bringing together diverse types of knowledge, and 4) encouraging reflexive researchers.

Routledge eBooks, Dec 21, 2022

Journal of Modern African Studies, 2007

  troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribu... more   troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribution. Mozambique's is an important and understudied experience, and Alden uses it to craft a thoughtful cautionary account of the limits of negotiated peace and economic and political liberalism in Africa. It is in highlighting the extensive international intervention this model requires that the book makes its greatest impact. It is not always clear, however, whether the main problem is that the model is infeasible, has never been properly carried out, or is undesirable even if it could be properly implemented. Nor does the author indicate the elements of a more desirable approach. And while the book does a good job of outlining international involvement in Mozambique's threefold transition over the past decade, the evaluation of the results for domestic politics is at times somewhat superficial. Nor is it informed by any substantive exploration of the mechanisms or dynamics of social and political change in general, and of liberalism in particular. Political, sociological and economic accounts of institution-building, for example, suggest that habituation to new sets of rules is a long-term, non-linear process, in which rules are introduced and imperfectly practised and only gradually internalised. Where then should we look for evidence of change in the short term ? Though the establishment of formal democratic institutions and market-based economies have, unsurprisingly, failed to transform Mozambican politics in this period, the placing of such reforms on the table has served to create political space and has brought to the surface fundamental struggles over both the principles and practice of allocating political and economic resources. Political assassinations, violent demonstrations and electoral boycotts provide striking and disturbing evidence of these struggles. But less visible outcomes can also be found. Mozambique's tough-minded independent media, while resting on a slender base, has had measurable impact on the way in which the business of politics is conducted in Mozambique. The advent of electoral competition has occasioned subtle but important changes in the balance of power within both major parties. There is of course no telling what might be the end result of these changes. But they deserve more thorough consideration than they are given here.

Journal of Modern African Studies, Sep 1, 2002

  troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribu... more   troubled states throughout the developing world, the book makes an important contribution. Mozambique's is an important and understudied experience, and Alden uses it to craft a thoughtful cautionary account of the limits of negotiated peace and economic and political liberalism in Africa. It is in highlighting the extensive international intervention this model requires that the book makes its greatest impact. It is not always clear, however, whether the main problem is that the model is infeasible, has never been properly carried out, or is undesirable even if it could be properly implemented. Nor does the author indicate the elements of a more desirable approach. And while the book does a good job of outlining international involvement in Mozambique's threefold transition over the past decade, the evaluation of the results for domestic politics is at times somewhat superficial. Nor is it informed by any substantive exploration of the mechanisms or dynamics of social and political change in general, and of liberalism in particular. Political, sociological and economic accounts of institution-building, for example, suggest that habituation to new sets of rules is a long-term, non-linear process, in which rules are introduced and imperfectly practised and only gradually internalised. Where then should we look for evidence of change in the short term ? Though the establishment of formal democratic institutions and market-based economies have, unsurprisingly, failed to transform Mozambican politics in this period, the placing of such reforms on the table has served to create political space and has brought to the surface fundamental struggles over both the principles and practice of allocating political and economic resources. Political assassinations, violent demonstrations and electoral boycotts provide striking and disturbing evidence of these struggles. But less visible outcomes can also be found. Mozambique's tough-minded independent media, while resting on a slender base, has had measurable impact on the way in which the business of politics is conducted in Mozambique. The advent of electoral competition has occasioned subtle but important changes in the balance of power within both major parties. There is of course no telling what might be the end result of these changes. But they deserve more thorough consideration than they are given here.

Ecosystems and People

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of t... more The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES research has also deepened over the past decade, and helped to shed light on key dimensions of SES dynamics (e.g. system feedbacks, aspects of system design, goals and paradigms) that can lead to tangible action for solving the major sustainability challenges of our time. We suggest four ways in which the growth of place-based SES research, fostered by networks such as PECS, has contributed to these developments, namely by: 1) shedding light on transformational change, 2) revealing the social dynamics shaping SES, 3) bringing together diverse types of knowledge, and 4) encouraging reflexive researchers.

Engaged Scholarship and Emancipation

This collective volume celebrates that 75 years ago the foundation was laid for the Department of... more This collective volume celebrates that 75 years ago the foundation was laid for the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Former and current staff members reflect on the changing meaning of engaged scholarship in relation to emancipatory issues. They offer a rich variety of essays about the shifting tension between engagement, emancipation and academic scholarship over the years.

Eighth Workshop on Computing within Limits 2022

Competing Jurisdictions, 2005

International business scholars are increasingly calling for more awareness of the local context ... more International business scholars are increasingly calling for more awareness of the local context in which international entrepreneurs pursue business opportunities. In this paper, we respond to this call, arguing that an entrepreneur’s business network engenders self-sustaining dynamics that bear upon the entrepreneurial opportunity itself. We conclude that the dynamics that we observe can be interpreted as ‘multidimensional embeddedness’. Through a qualitative inquiry, we study how a Korean entrepreneur seeking to establish an agri-business venture in Cambodia embeds himself in the local business environment as a means to create an opportunity structure. We analyze how the international business venture initially thrived but ultimately failed, attributing these outcomes to the entrepreneur’s multidimensional embeddedness in the wider business environment. In so doing, we contribute a critical perspective to entrepreneurship research, widening the prevailing individualistic focus on...

Ngoma «Se Born-Again Fundamentalism Contesting représentations of time in urban Malawi Rijk van D... more Ngoma «Se Born-Again Fundamentalism Contesting représentations of time in urban Malawi Rijk van Dijk Anthropology will survive in a changing world by allowing itself to perish m order to be born again under a new guise.

This brief manifesto signed by 173 Netherlands-based scholars working on issues around developmen... more This brief manifesto signed by 173 Netherlands-based scholars working on issues around development aims to summarize what we know to be critical and successful policy strategies for moving forward during and after the crisis. We propose five key policy proposals for a post-COVID-19 development model, all of which can be implemented immediately and sustained after this particular crisis has subsided: 1) a move away from development focused on aggregate GDP growth to differentiate among sectors that can grow and need investment (the so-called critical public sectors, and clean energy, education, health and more) and sectors that need to radically degrow due to their fundamental unsustainability or their role in driving continuous and excessive consumption (especially private sector oil, gas, mining, advertising, and so forth); 2) an economic framework focused on redistribution, which establishes a universal basic income rooted in a universal social policy system, a strong progressive taxation of income, profits and wealth, reduced working hours and job sharing, and recognizes care work and essential public services such as health and education for their intrinsic value; 3) agricultural transformation towards regenerative agriculture based on biodiversity conservation, sustainable and mostly local and vegetarian food production, as well as fair agricultural employment conditions and wages; 4) reduction of consumption and travel, with a drastic shift from luxury and wasteful consumption and travel to basic, necessary, sustainable and satisfying consumption and travel; 5) debt cancellation, especially for workers and small business owners and for countries in the global south (both from richer countries and international financial institutions)