Allowing for the Projective Dimension of Agency in Analysing Alternative Food Networks

This article argues for including the projective dimension of agency in research into alternative food networks. Starting from a review of the literature, I show that referring to the notion of project is useful to answer the questions raised by the use of the term alternative and to reinforce analyses of hybridisation and conventionalisation processes. I argue that alternative food networks are characterised by a promise of difference in the projects of the actors who promote them. To clarify this notion of project, I rely on the work of French sociologists concerning the creation of organised action. I posit that taking account of the project amounts to recognising human beings' abilities to imagine and to construct new collectives such as those that are studied in research into alternative food networks. I also underscore the need to envision the project not as a clear determinant of action, but rather as a fuzzy landmark, meaning that negotiation and arbitration are required to set the rules involved in its implementation.