Christina C.m.g. Schiavoni

Biography

Christina Schiavoni is an agrarian and food movement activist originally from the US. She completed her MA at ISS with a Major in Agrarian and Environmental Studies in December 2013, with recognition of her research paper “Competing Sovereignties, Contested Processes: The Politics of Food Sovereignty Construction.” She completed her BS at Cornell University with majors in International Agriculture and Natural Resources. In the decade prior to joining ISS, she was deeply engaged in food sovereignty efforts as an organizer and advocate in the US and at the global level. These include involvement in the 2007 Nyéléni Global Forum on Food Sovereignty, the International Planning Committee on Food Sovereignty (IPC), the Civil Society Mechanism of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and the launching of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance as well as the Food Sovereignty Prize. Recent research projects include evaluation of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) of the UN Committee on World Food Security, as well as a study of the impacts of agricultural investment on the right to food of small-scale farmers in Tanzania, and she continues to follow (and support, as possible) efforts toward food sovereignty in the US. Her dissertation research is focused on a historical, relational and interactive approach to food sovereignty construction, particularly the tensions and synergies between state-led and citizen-led efforts, and how these are being navigated, drawing from the case of Venezuela, where, for over fifteen years, a food sovereignty experiment has been underway in the context of a dynamic shift in state-society relations. Her publications include articles in The Journal of Peasant Studies, Monthly Review, Development, Third World Quarterly, and Globalizations. She is co-editor the recently released book The Politics of Food Sovereignty: Concept, Practice and Social Movements (2017 Routledge). She is currently co-guest editor of a forthcoming special issue of Third World Quarterly and is working with others on a forthcoming book on food sovereignty ideas and movements. She is currently in the field work stage of her PhD research, based in Caracas, Venezuela. Christina Schiavoni is an agrarian and food movement activist originally from the US. She completed her MA at ISS with a Major in Agrarian and Environmental Studies in December 2013, with recognition of her research paper “Competing Sovereignties, Contested Processes: The Politics of Food Sovereignty Construction.” She completed her BS at Cornell University with majors in International Agriculture and Natural Resources. In the decade prior to joining ISS, she was deeply engaged in food sovereignty efforts as an organizer and advocate in the US and at the global level. These include involvement in the 2007 Nyéléni Global Forum on Food Sovereignty, the International Planning Committee on Food Sovereignty (IPC), the Civil Society Mechanism of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and the launching of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance as well as the Food Sovereignty Prize. Recent research projects include evaluation of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) of the UN Committee on World Food Security, as well as a study of the impacts of agricultural investment on the right to food of small-scale farmers in Tanzania, and she continues to follow (and support, as possible) efforts toward food sovereignty in the US. Her dissertation research is focused on a historical, relational and interactive approach to food sovereignty construction, particularly the tensions and synergies between state-led and citizen-led efforts, and how these are being navigated, drawing from the case of Venezuela, where, for over fifteen years, a food sovereignty experiment has been underway in the context of a dynamic shift in state-society relations. Her publications include articles in The Journal of Peasant Studies, Monthly Review, Development, Third World Quarterly, and Globalizations. She is co-editor the recently released book The Politics of Food Sovereignty: Concept, Practice and Social Movements (2017 Routledge). She is currently co-guest editor of a forthcoming special issue of Third World Quarterly and is working with others on a forthcoming book on food sovereignty ideas and movements. She is currently in the field work stage of her PhD research, based in Caracas, Venezuela.

Research Interest

Social Studies