Examining Heterodox Methodologies and Agrifood Futures

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Abstract

Research methodologies shape discovery and the production of authoritative knowledge and at the same time they are vehicles for raising new questions and destabilizing paradigms. Social scientific research on agrifood innovation has historically relied on a limited range of traditional methodologies. While the rise of critical agrifood studies has advanced the field beyond studies of adoption and social acceptance of new technologies – and we now have a solid understanding of the political economy of agricultural science and technology and awareness of alternative development pathways – globalized, corporate, neoliberal industrial food systems continue to expand in ways that are unjust, ecologically destructive, inhumane, and harmful to public health. Yet, in the last 20 years, there has been a rise in the use of unconventional research methodologies in areas of agricultural technology. Speculative design, serious games, art interventions, and exploratory research methods that draw upon humor, provocation, and satire appear with increasing frequency. This paper charts the rise of unconventional research methodology, maps the ways in which these studies depart from traditional approaches, and analyses the potential implications for agriculture and social studies of agriculture. It is possible that new methodologies open the door to new questions, new visions and new practices applied to food and agriculture.

Authors

• Brian K. Obach, SUNY- New Paltz

• Steven Wolf, Cornell University