Food’s Changing Geographies and Subjects: Thinking the Food Question in De-ruralising Turkey

This article focuses on the transformation in the field of agri-food, arguably standing at the nodal point of the multiple crises determined by the ecological crisis that has been on the agenda since the 1990s. Discussing this transformation in the particular case of Turkey, the article argues that the current food problem is not merely rooted in de-agrarianisation or the capitalist transformation of agriculture. Although it cannot be seen completely separate from these, the paper aims to discuss the claim that de-peasantisation and de-ruralisation tendencies gradually supersede the agrarian question. In this context, cities are gradually losing their rural areas and agricultural production capacities while new forms of production are emerging through agroecology and alternative food relations within the urban food space. The article questions these counter-movements and their capacity to organise a change towards a more ecological society. Therefore, the paper argues that the food crises in de-ruralised cities have become not only a contemporary manifestation of the ecological crisis but also one of the main paths for searching for new and different relations with non-human nature which do not rely on domination and exploitation.