Barbara Schönher
Print versionContact details
Department of Geography King’s College London
4th Floor, King’s Building, Strand
London, WC2R 2LS
barbara.schoenher@kcl.ac.uk
4th Floor, King’s Building, Strand
London, WC2R 2LS
barbara.schoenher@kcl.ac.uk
Research
Milk & honey - The cultures and politics of raw food
The research project explores cultures and politics of raw food, raw milk and raw honey. The research is located within alternative agro-food studies. It addresses the questions, of whether “raw” is an alternative food trend, what its alternative characteristics are, and what its transformative potential is. It aims to find out why people seek out raw food, raw milk and raw honey, how these alternative foods are produced and consumed, how they create alternative food networks, and how these networks function.
Drawing on research of alternative food geographies, which examines alternative production practises and consumption customs around the emergence of food production and consumption relations outside the conventional industrialised agro-food complex, it will explore and examine raw food through a lens of alternative food research. These emerging alternative food geographies mark the transition away from the crisis-ridden model of conventional industrial agriculture. Several trends within alternative food have been studied, among which “organic”, “fair trade”, and “local” food are the most prominent. By drawing on concepts of alternative food research, such as re-socialisation and re-spatialisation of food, re-establishment and reconfiguration of producer-consumer relationships, embeddedness of food, the research will take a closer look at “raw” food with respect to its, rawness and alternativeness, as well as related politics and cultures, socio-economic and environmental relations.
Amongst all raw foods the research chose to conduct detailed field research for two case studies: raw milk and raw honey. In applying a “follow-the-thing” commodity network analysis the alternative food networks of raw milk and raw honey be researched as case studies.
The research project explores cultures and politics of raw food, raw milk and raw honey. The research is located within alternative agro-food studies. It addresses the questions, of whether “raw” is an alternative food trend, what its alternative characteristics are, and what its transformative potential is. It aims to find out why people seek out raw food, raw milk and raw honey, how these alternative foods are produced and consumed, how they create alternative food networks, and how these networks function.
Drawing on research of alternative food geographies, which examines alternative production practises and consumption customs around the emergence of food production and consumption relations outside the conventional industrialised agro-food complex, it will explore and examine raw food through a lens of alternative food research. These emerging alternative food geographies mark the transition away from the crisis-ridden model of conventional industrial agriculture. Several trends within alternative food have been studied, among which “organic”, “fair trade”, and “local” food are the most prominent. By drawing on concepts of alternative food research, such as re-socialisation and re-spatialisation of food, re-establishment and reconfiguration of producer-consumer relationships, embeddedness of food, the research will take a closer look at “raw” food with respect to its, rawness and alternativeness, as well as related politics and cultures, socio-economic and environmental relations.
Amongst all raw foods the research chose to conduct detailed field research for two case studies: raw milk and raw honey. In applying a “follow-the-thing” commodity network analysis the alternative food networks of raw milk and raw honey be researched as case studies.
Supervisors
Professor Michael Redclift and Dr. Michael Goodman are jointly supervising the research project. The research is located within the “Environment, Politics and Development” research group.
Funding
Barbara’s PhD research is funded by the postgraduate Studentship of the Centre for International Cooperation and Mobility financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research.
Biography
Barbara graduated with Distinction in Political Science at the University of Vienna. Her main areas of studies were International Relations, Global Governance and Policy Analysis with a specialisation on the interrelation of nature and culture, society and environment. During her degree programme Barbara undertook an Internship in the editorial office of Universum Magazine where she wrote several articles on cultural and environmental topics. Later she specialised in food, agricultural and environmental policies. During 2007 she worked in an interdisciplinary research group on the political economy of the global food crisis. In the course of this project she specialised in agricultural and food politics with an emphasis food security and food safety.
Barbara worked as a research assistant at the Institute for socio-ecological Research (ISOE) in Frankfurt/Main within the LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) in 2008. She conducted research on climate-caused changes in biodiversity and discourses interrelating with the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD COP9).
In 2009 Barbara worked in the European Parliament and developed expertise in the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European dairy sector. Key areas of her interest are farm subsidies, rural development and environmental impacts of livestock farming. Barbara was employed as a trainee in the office of an Austrian MEP in the European Parliament in Brussels/Strasbourg. Her core responsibility as a research assistant was to provide critical support for the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) with regard to the contents of agricultural policies and regional development, sustainable development and food security as well as animal welfare.
Since 2010 Barbara worked as teaching assistant and lecturer at the Geography Department at King’s College London.
Barbara worked as a research assistant at the Institute for socio-ecological Research (ISOE) in Frankfurt/Main within the LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) in 2008. She conducted research on climate-caused changes in biodiversity and discourses interrelating with the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD COP9).
In 2009 Barbara worked in the European Parliament and developed expertise in the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European dairy sector. Key areas of her interest are farm subsidies, rural development and environmental impacts of livestock farming. Barbara was employed as a trainee in the office of an Austrian MEP in the European Parliament in Brussels/Strasbourg. Her core responsibility as a research assistant was to provide critical support for the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) with regard to the contents of agricultural policies and regional development, sustainable development and food security as well as animal welfare.
Since 2010 Barbara worked as teaching assistant and lecturer at the Geography Department at King’s College London.
