Agro-Food Change through the Lens of Soy. (Sub-)National Pathways in a Global Perspective

RHN 125/2024 | Event

Organisers: Ernst Langthaler, Maximilian Martsch and Gabriel Tober (Johannes Kepler University Linz)

14–15 October 2024, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

Deadline for registration: 6 October 2024

 

Agro-Food Change through the Lens of Soy: (Sub-)National Pathways in a Global Perspective
International Conference

 

The conference will assess agro-food globalisation and its transformations through the lens of soy from a social-science and humanities perspective. Over the last 150 years, soy has risen from a far-eastern curiosity to the largest agricultural commodity in world trade. The conference aims to overcome the 'methodological nationalism' of country-focused agro-food studies as well as the globalist tendency of food regime theory by emphasising (sub-)national pathways of agro-food change. Leading international scholars across disciplines will analyse the history of soy in and between Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia.

Participation for a limited number of people is possible. Please register by 6 October 2024 at maximilian.martsch@jku.at.

 

Programme

Monday, 14 October 2024

8:30-9:00: Get together

9:00-9:30: Welcome by Gerald Pruckner (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics at the JKU Linz)

9:30-11:00: Paper Session 1: Early Globalizations

Maximilian Martsch (JKU Linz): Why Soy Failed: Austria in its Transnational Setting, 1870-1950

Ernst Langthaler (JKU Linz) & Natalia Ryzhova (Palacký University Olomouc): Capitalist Versus Communist Beans: Soy in the USA and USSR, 1920s-1950s

Ines Prodöhl (University of Bergen): Soy for the Reich: Nazi Germany's Agricultural Policies in Southeastern Europe

Discussant: Matilda Baraibar Norberg (Stockholm University)

11:00-11:30: Coffee Break

11:30-13:00: Roundtable Discussion 1: Reconceptualizing Food Regimes

Input: Mark Tilzey (University of Coventry)

Discussants: Mariano Turzi (Universidad Católica Argentina) & Tomaz Fares (University of York)

13:00-14:00: Lunch Break

14:00-15:30: Paper Session 2: Late Globalizations

John Martin (Reading University): Why Soy? The Ascendency of Soy in the Post-Second-World-War Period

Gabriel Tober (JKU Linz): Why Soy Succeeded: Austria in its Transnational Setting, 1950-2020

Vimbai Chaumba Kwashirai (University of Zimbabwe): Changing Soy Cultivation and Consumption Trends in Southern Africa, 2014-2024

Discussant: Ines Prodöhl (University of Bergen)

15:30-16:00: Coffee Break

16:00-17:30: Roundtable Discussion 2: Reconceptualizing Agro-food Change

Input: Markus Schermer (University of Innsbruck)

17:30-18:00: Coffee Break

18:00-20:00: Kick-Off of the Interdisciplinary Commodity Studies Lab

Welcome by Stefan Koch (Rector of the JKU Linz) & Thomas Gegenhuber (Head of the Linz Institute of Transformative Change, JKU Linz)

Presentation of the ICS Lab by Karin Fischer & Ernst Langthaler (JKU Linz)

Keynote Lecture "Sugar and the History of Global Capitalism" by Ulbe Bosma (Vrije Universiteit/International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam)

20:00-21:00: Evening Reception

 

Tuesday, 15 October 2024

9:00-10:30: Paper Session 3: Trans-Pacific Encounters

Leo Chu (University of Cambridge): Multiple Soy: The Transformation of Soybean Science in Taiwan since 1945

Claiton Marcio da Silva (Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul): Chickens, Pigs, and Soybeans: The Deep History of a Global Ecological Relationship

Tomaz Fares, Paulina Flores-Martínez & Patricia Prado (University of York): Global Reordering and Sino-Brazilian Commodity Chains for Soybeans

Discussants: Sjamme Van De Voort (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) & Samira P. Moretto (Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul)

10:30-11:00: Coffee Break

11:00-12:30: Roundtable Discussion 3: Reconceptualizing Agro-food Spaces

Input: Robert Hafner (University of Innsbruck)

12:30-13:30: Lunch Break

13:30-15:00: Paper Session 4: Trans-Atlantic Encounters

Sjamme Van De Voort (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) & Samira P. Moretto (Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul): Connections of Soy: Global Colonial Heritages of Monocultures in Brazil

Matilda Baraibar Norberg (Stockholm University), Cecilia Gelabert (Universidad Nacional de Misiones) & Enrique Mejía (Stockholm University): Beyond Homogenization: A Comparative Exploration of Soy Cultivation Practices at Subnational Levels in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay

Mariano Turzi (Universidad Católica Argentina): Soybean Inter-pares? How Argentine Provinces are Reshaping the Soybean Republic

Discussant: Mark Tilzey (University of Coventry)

15:00-15:30: Coffee Break

15:30-17:00: Roundtable Discussion 4: Reconceptualizing the Soyacene

Input: Ernst Langthaler (JKU Linz)

Discussants: Claiton Marcio da Silva (Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul) & Vimbai Chaumba Kwashirai (University of Zimbabwe)

17:00-18:00: Concluding Discussion

Input: Ulbe Bosma (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam)

General Discussion

 

Source: H-Soz-Kult