Maria Vasile | University of Pisa (original) (raw)

PhD dissertation by Maria Vasile

Vasile, M. 2023. The silenced paradoxes of urban renewal: morality, welfare reconfiguration and precarious labour in Collective Food Procurement in Turin. Doctoral Thesis. Leiden University. https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3638588, 2023

This dissertation takes the reader around different Collective Food Procurement networks in Turin... more This dissertation takes the reader around different Collective Food Procurement networks in Turin (Italy). Building on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2019 and 2020, I discuss the case of urban gardens (part one), open-air food markets (part two) and food aid initiatives (part three). I analyse related sites, people, practices and narratives and I call for diversifying our outlooks on urban peripheral areas and moving away from incautious optimism around widespread understandings of urban renewal and sustainability. To critically engage with these themes, I focus on civic engagement and morality, which represent red threads throughout the text. In particular, I argue that citizens’ engagement is increasingly mediated by the non-profit sector. This should be problematised in relation to silenced discontent, the exclusion of marginalised practices and limited citizens’ possibilities to be part of actual decision-making. I use morality as a common denominator to investigate the similarities and differences between the various cases - and examine their linkages with broader processes such as welfare reconfiguration, precarious labour and gentrification. I highlight how, through morality, certain working cultures, such as low remuneration as part of the non-profit sector, became interrelated with contemporary understandings of urban sustainability.

Papers by Maria Vasile

Kangasniemi, M., Pace, N., Levina, K., Ocampo, A., Owens, J. & Vasile, M. 2022. Rapid assessment and microsimulation of impacts of a Cash+ pilot intervention in Kyrgyzstan. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc1182en, 2022

This report presents the results of a mixed-method rapid assessment that provides both indicative... more This report presents the results of a mixed-method rapid assessment that provides both indicative quantitative information and in-depth qualitative analysis on the household-level impacts of the Cash+ pilot. The assessment focused on the effects of the pilot intervention on dietary diversity, income generation and poverty reduction outcomes as well as household decision-making. To establish the impacts of the pilot, the assessment relied on comparing subjective perceptions of households that participated in the pilot, those receiving only cash transfers but not the pilot, and a sample of other households that did not receive either support (as a comparison group). This was accomplished through a qualitative study and a quantitative study. The rapid assessment was complemented by a microsimulation analysis of potential poverty impacts and implications for food consumption diversity that made use of the Kyrgyz Integrated Household Survey (KIHS) conducted in 2014, which is representative at the national level.

Vasile, M. (2022). “Building networks for sustainability? Food surplus redistribution, non-profit organisations and neoliberalism in Turin, Italy”. Kritisk etnografi: Swedish Journal of Anthropology 5 (1-2), 59-76. , 2022

Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turin between 2019 and 2020, this article critica... more Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turin between 2019 and 2020, this article critically analyses the reorganisation of non-profit organisations engaged in the collection and redistribution of food surplus into a network. It specifically addresses the following questions: why are these non-profit organisations forming a network? What skills do the workers of these organisations have to mobilise in response? What does such reconfiguration denote in terms of the meaning of sustainability in the context of neoliberalism and welfare reform? I discuss the case of Food Pride-standing for Participation Recuperation Inclusion Distribution Education-a network that came into being in 2019. I explain their activities and the ways in which transforming into a network became a funding requirement and governance repertoire, but also translated into the need for new communication and liaison skills to be taken up by non-profit workers. I argue that the development of this network sheds light onto the ways in which neoliberal urban governance and notions of sustainability can be interconnected: I show how the network becomes a way of "making into value" (Elyachar 2005) specific practices and skills, fosters moral ideals of self-governance and naturalises the progressive increase of public responsibilities taken up by non-profit organisations.

Grasseni, C., De Musso, F., Gracjasz, O., Smith, R., Vasile, M., & Walstra, V. (2022). Reskilling for sustainability: A perspective from comparative ethnography on collective food procurement. kritisk etnografi: Swedish Journal of Anthropology, 5(1), 137-149., 2022

Vasile M. & Grasseni C. (2022). Visions of the urban green: interrogating urban renewal in Turin’s Periphery. Anthrovision 8(1)., 2020

The article investigates urban gardening in Turin with ethnography, historical analysis and photo... more The article investigates urban gardening in Turin with ethnography, historical analysis and photography, using both the authors’ photography and sources from social media and private archives. The authors collaborate to analyse ‘community’ gardening through a critical anthropological perspective which centres on the hegemonic power of aesthetic assumptions about the urban green. As a post-industrial, multicultural city, Turin illuminates the dialectic of gentrification vis-à-vis socioeconomic and cultural diversity, which is a crucial dynamic of many urban renewal trends towards ‘green cities’. We highlight the homogeneity of an aesthetic regime vis-à-vis the diversity of ‘skilled visions’ of social actors and its restraining effects on participatory governance. We contribute to ongoing debates in urban anthropology and visual studies, concerned with urban regeneration agendas in the de-industrializing cities of the Global North.

Mari V. & Vasile M. (2020). From recipe to collective improvisation : an ethnographic vignette about food assistance in Barriera di Milano, Turin. lo Squaderno 56: 43-46., 2020

Menezes, Sônia de Souza Mendonça; Almeida, Maria Geralda de (orgs.). Vamos às feiras!: Cultura e ressignificação dos circuitos curtos. Araca- ju, SE: Criação Editora, 2021

Construção de identidade, capacitação mútua e negociação política em uma feira de agricultores/as... more Construção de identidade, capacitação mútua e negociação política em uma feira de agricultores/as PÁGINA 214 INTRODUÇÃO: CHEGANDO À FEIRA P ara chegar à feira Feira Ecológica do Menino Deus, em Porto Alegre, você precisa caminhar pelo pátio da Secretaria da Agricultura do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Você deixa o barulho da Avenida Getúlio Vargas e, à medida que você se dirige para a parte coberta, feita em estrutura de madeira, os sons da feira tornam-se predominantes. Você pode ouvir as pessoas conversando, inclusive, muitas vezes, suas risadas, às vezes, alguma música, e você tem a sensação de que está entrando em um lugar calmo e acolhedor. Catorze bancas de agricultores/as familiares cobertas com frutas e verduras, produtos processados-como geleias e sucos-, e comida pronta para o consumo, tanto de agricultores/as quanto de consumidores/as, dispostas em bancas organizadas em cada um dos lados da estrutura de madeira sob a qual a feira é organizada. Com alguma frequência, a feira também recebe convidados, entre os quais delegações de agricultores/as nacionais e estrangeiros, universidades, estudantes e professores, equipes de TVs locais e estrangeiras e, ainda, artesãos locais, artistas de rua, cozinheiros e revendedores de produtos orgânicos. Passeando pelas bancas, você pode ver os/as agricultores/as interagindo entre si e com os/as consumidores/as, arrumando seus produtos nas bancas, passando adiante seu chimarrão, e brincando com crianças. Além de perceber que as bancas são coloridas e a atmosfera é amigável, você percebe que a feira é palco de algo muito maior do que a simples comercialização de alimentos. Essa feira, chamada Feira da Cultura Ecológica do Menino Deus ou, como é conhecida, Feira do Menino Deus, é a segunda mais antiga feira de produtores/as agroecológicos 2 de Porto Alegre, no

Redes (Santa Cruz do Sul. Online), v. 24, n. 1, p. 212 - 226, 2019

By focusing on the agroecological farmers’ market of Menino Deus in Porto Alegre, Brazil, we expl... more By focusing on the agroecological farmers’ market of Menino Deus in Porto Alegre, Brazil, we explore how counter-hegemonic narratives and forms of knowledge are cultivated in such arenas. Informed by theories of practical knowledge as well as theoretical debates over ethics and politics of local food, we regard the farmers’ market as a community of practice, where direct food procurement is a social relation entailing situated identity- construction, mutual enskilment, and political negotiation. The analysis is based mainly on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Porto Alegre between March and June 2016, which included participant observation and semi-structured in depth interviews at the market of Menino Deus. The paper elaborates on the three above-mentioned dimensions (identity- construction, mutual enskilment, and political negotiation) as central, parallel processes that take place at the market, making it an arena for debate over agri-food standards where local food, nutrition security and social justice are redefined and promoted. We highlight linkages between farmers’ histories, visions, modes of production, and the governance mechanisms, enskilment processes and other activities at the market. In this way, we suggest that in this community technical aspects of procurement are re-embedded in the social domain and translate into new ways of life and visions of the future. This paper attempts to link reflections on the market place context, skill acquisition, and collective meaning negotiations, in order to contribute to the debate on local food as emancipatory project.

Built Environment Journal, 2017

Brazil has been widely lauded for the development of its agricultural sector, its policies agains... more Brazil has been widely lauded for the development of its agricultural sector, its policies against hunger, and its support of family farming. Yet, the future of small-scale family farmers remains uncertain. In this paper, we question whether food system localization facilitates the integration of small-scale family farmers into food governance processes in Porto Alegre, Brazil. To answer this, we present the City Region Food System (CRFS) as a conceptual approach to explore the relationship between food systems localization and enhanced participation of small-scale family farmers into food governance. After introducing the case study of local food in Porto Alegre, we shed light on key structural inequalities (e.g. location and capacity to organize) that limit family farmers’ participation in local food practices, as well as influence their involvement in food governance. We then examine linkages between local food policy efforts and family farmers’ praxis, attempting to discern mismatches and related implications for the development of an inclusive CRFS. We argue that systematization of local food practices (e.g. regulation and standardization of products) within the city region represents a double-edged sword as it might translate into a decrease in farmers’ autonomy and ownership of local initiatives but could also burden them with regulations not fit for purpose. In conclusion, we advance that a CRFS approach to planning can help to address structural inequalities and power asymmetries in local food governance only if informed by local dynamics and based on context sensitive mechanisms for participatory governance incorporating a variety of small-scale family farmers (and other stakeholders).

News articles and posts by Maria Vasile

Vasile, M. & A. De Conno. (2023). Reddito Alimentare: l’importanza di un dibattito critico. Altreconomia website. https://altreconomia.it/reddito-alimentare-limportanza-di-un-dibattito-critico/

Nell’ultima legge di Bilancio è stato introdotto il Fondo per la sperimentazione del Reddito alim... more Nell’ultima legge di Bilancio è stato introdotto il Fondo per la sperimentazione del Reddito alimentare. Si baserà sull’“erogazione, a soggetti in condizioni di povertà assoluta, di pacchi alimentari realizzati con l’invenduto della distribuzione alimentare”. Perché questa misura e come contestualizzarla nella fase socio economica attuale

Manganelli, A., Montefusco, G. and M. Vasile. 2023. From urban food organizations to food policies. Comparing gazes between Turin and other cities in the global north. Blog Entry, Leiden University. https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/foodcitizens/news/from-urban-food-organizations-to-food-policies

How are urban food organizations evolving in the Global North? Are these forming networks? How sh... more How are urban food organizations evolving in the Global North? Are these forming networks? How should we differentiate these organisations and related networks from urban food movements? How are these organizations working towards the development of local food policies? Starting from these questions, on March 24, 2023, the researchers Alessandra Manganelli, Ginevra Montefusco and Maria Vasile presented insights from their respective work in the context of a seminar organized at the University of Turin.

Blog post, 2020

This blog post narrates about one of the grassroots and self-organized food aid initiative that d... more This blog post narrates about one of the grassroots and self-organized food aid initiative that developed in Turin during the COVID-19 emergency: the Rete Aurora Solidale (Aurora Solidarity Network - Aurora is a neighbourhood in north Turin - ). Since the start of the Italian lockdown on March 10 2020, many families had to face increasing economic difficulties due to lack of income or access to institutional support. Municipal interventions to tackle food insecurity were limited (and strongly reliant on third sector organizations) and left behind many people in need. Networks of grassroots movements, collectives and committees developed to respond to the demands that remained unheard and are now pursuing their intervention by giving visibility to these and forwarding political demands. The post is a translation of an article originally publishes on Pop off quotidiano on May 19 2020:
$ https://www.popoffquotidiano.it/2020/05/19/torino-dal-cibo-alle-rivendicazioni/

Blog post, 2021

During my fieldwork in Turin I had the opportunity to exchange thoughts with several researchers ... more During my fieldwork in Turin I had the opportunity to exchange thoughts with several researchers investigating same areas and projects but from a different disciplinary angle. Despite the dissimilar research questions and methodologies, such exchanges always enriched my understanding of the context and benefitted my analysis. This blogpost reports on one of these conversations, which Alessandro Pisano, political science student at the University of Turin, and I had with regards to the transforming neighbourhood of Mirafiori Sud. Why did we both focus on this peripheral area? How did we approach the study of its transformation? What are our analyses of the impact of local urban greening and food production projects?

Audio visual by Maria Vasile

Brief interview with a member of Boterbloem - an ecological farm resisting the development of an ... more Brief interview with a member of Boterbloem - an ecological farm resisting the development of an industrial area in Amsterdam West.

Podcast for dissemination and divulgation of the Food Citizens? research in Turin (in Italian)

Book reviews by Maria Vasile

Interface: a journal for and about social movements, 2022

The ten pieces gathered in Susana Narotzky’s edited volume Grassroots Economies: Living with Aust... more The ten pieces gathered in Susana Narotzky’s edited volume Grassroots Economies: Living with Austerity in Southern Europe explore, through ethnographic accounts and analyses, the contemporary socio-economic crisis as experienced by ordinary people in Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

Interface: a journal for and about social movements Book reviews Volume 9 (2): 404 - 406, 2017

Peasants negotiating a global policy space - La Via Campesina in the Committee on World Food Secu... more Peasants negotiating a global policy space - La Via Campesina in the Committee on World Food Security by Ingeborg Gaarde is an important contribution to research exploring how social movements launch into different levels of activism, engaging in global politics, while continuing to partake in local and national struggles. By looking at the international peasant movement La Vía Campesina, the author challenges dominant theories of social movement institutionalisation, predicting that social movements’ access to institutions and internationalisation results in processes of centralisation, bureaucratisation, de-radicalisation and cooptation (e.g. Tarrow 1998; Tilly 2004).

Book chapters by Maria Vasile

Sustainable Food Systems. Change of route in the mediterranean. Dernini S. and Capone R.CIHEAM Bari., 2024

One of the keys to food system transformation is the transformation of food environments. Food en... more One of the keys to food system transformation is the transformation of food environments. Food envi- ronments are emergent properties of food system interactions, as actors, rules, artifacts, coalesce into local patterns that enable and constrain people’s behavior. They are structures of everyday life that constitute people’s lifeworlds. Food environments are subsystems of broader food systems. They are shaped and influenced by the broader food system, and shape and influence food-related activities of individuals, households, communities. At the same time, transformation of food environments can contribute to the broader system transformation. The multilevel approach, one of the most considered approaches to transition, proposes a theory of change that takes into consideration bot- tom-up dynamics, based on ‘innovation niches’ that provide alternative models and challenge the dominant models through scaling up and replication. To apply this approach to food environments, we consider two types: ‘micro’ food environments, which exert their influence over individuals and households, ‘macro’ food environments, that consti- tute the frameworks for the reproduction of a multiplicity of food environments. How can the ‘Mediterranean diet’ concept affect micro and macro food environments in a strategy of food system transformation? We must consider that one of the most relevant barriers to behavioral change is knowledge. Knowledge gap can be articulated into a) awareness gap, that is a gap of understanding of the link between behavior and health (of own body and of the planet); b) motivation gap, that is a gap that links awareness to the willingness to change. In most cases, this gap is related to trade-offs between the benefits of the change and the expected costs necessary to obtain the change; c) action gap, which is related to the access to suitable solutions to a recognized problem. The Mediterranean diet can address this knowledge gap. It is a resource for ‘soft power’, that resonates with people’s lifeworld and demonstrates that pathways for change are feasible. Even though daily diets are far from its principles, the narrative that the Mediterranean diet underpins provides a resource to fill the knowledge gap. In terms of awareness gap, it shows a link between diets and body and planet health; it provides motivation to act as it creates a coherence between values and behavior embedded into local culture; it also can provide actionable knowledge as it is based on a knowledge reservoir related to local gastronomy. The Mediterranean Diet values and principles can be turned into resources for transforming micro and macro food environments.