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Creating 'authentic' communities among the middle class : a case study of new organic farmers in southern British Columbia

University of British Columbia

This thesis investigates the construction of community and how it is used to create the identity of small-scale (often) organic farmers who are growing food for local customers. Using ethnographic methods, I explore the meaning of community both among local, organic farmers, but also investigated its salience within the interactions between the farmers, their customers and the wider public (markets, public events, media and exhibitions). To my ethnographic findings, I apply notions of the ‘new middle class’ and its relationship to authenticity to explore why food and farming are providing such a successful venue for a community of people to gather and mobilize around. I describe the “lived” community of organic farmers and its distinctions from a more widespread “public” farming community and its representations, which are increasingly available to mainstream North American culture. I critique these public representations of farming because of the ways they conjure images that gloss over those who have access to locally farmed food and who benefits from this industry. I draw attention to this dynamic with the hope that this critique will bring a new awareness to the local food movement, thus contributing to its success.

Text

2012-04-20

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42128

Anthropology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/