Urban farming: toward a decolonial political ecology in Cape Town
Loading...
Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This study examines how decolonial political ecology can address social justice through small-scale urban farming in Cape Town. Ethnographic analysis reveals that farming practices at the Ocean View Organic Farm extend beyond food production and include social reproduction, resource-sharing, and resistance to ecological apartheid. The Farm supports food justice, equitable resource access, and environmental sustainability. However, challenges such as limited land access, economic marginalization, and structural inequalities manifest as slow violence, undermine the Farm’s viability. The analysis suggests that decolonial political ecology, as a methodology, critique, and analytic, challenges extractive commercial agriculture and hegemonic environmentalism. This study highlights how structural impediments favour large-scale farming over sustainable, community-centred approaches. The study advocates for adopting a decolonial political ecology to address inequalities and reimagine farming as a means of care, empowerment, and planetary connection for marginalized communities.
Description
Keywords
Multidimensional farming, decolonial, ecology, slow violence, care