Call for Papers for the Research and Debates Section of Issue 26 of Vínculos Journal: Sociology, Analysis, and Opinion. Against Food Empires: For a Critical Sociology of Eating.

AGAINST FOOD EMPIRES. FOR A CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF EATING For millennia, eating activities have been part of the political organization of people's everyday lives. This was also true for health, child-rearing, education, exchange, and mobility activities, which are now monopolized by hospital systems, schools, financial systems, and transportation networks. In today's modern capitalist society, these systems have incapacitated us from taking charge of our own health, education, sustenance, and mobility. Now it is food's turn. The current great food empires are rendering us incapable of producing our own food and preparing meals. The offensive of the food empires has four key moments: war against rural subsistence; the centralization of a food regime within the large-scale industries of agriculture, food processing, and commercialization; the symbolic imposition of food products disconnected from the contexts from which they were extracted; and the large-scale suffering of animals confined within industrial farming operations. In light of this, we consider it pertinent to call for the submission of articles to the Research and Debate Section, addressing the societal issues generated by the current food empires. Proposed articles could explore the following topics: When we talk about food empires, what are we referring to? What are the sociological, anthropological, political, or economic approaches to the current food crisis? What contributions can social studies make to the understanding of the food phenomenon? What is the current situation regarding institutional and criminal violence against rural subsistence and ways of life? How do these forms of violence affect the production, distribution, and consumption of food? Are there experiences of reclaiming autonomy over food? How can we politically organize the everyday practice of eating? In the face of the current capitalist offensive against people's diverse ways of life and the suffering of animals in industrial confinement, how can we problematize the issue of continuing to eat meat in a way that leads to an anti-capitalist practice? Beyond the institutional version of food sovereignty, the right to “healthy food,” and “veganism,” could peasant and popular struggles be aligned with struggles against animal suffering to confront the food empires? Can the social sciences evolve toward ethical dimensions in their studies on animal suffering within the food empires? SCHEDULE November 8, 2024: Submit articles via OJS (instructions will be provided for upload) for double-blind review. December 15, 2024: Articles returned with reviewers’ comments. February 10, 2025: Submit the final version of the article for publication via email to revistavinculos@hotmail.com. Contributions approved through the peer review process will be published in Issue 26 (print) and Issue 11 (online) in March 2025. Submissions must adhere to the editorial guidelines of Revista Vínculos, which can be consulted at the following link: https://www.vinculossociologiaanalisisyopinion.cucsh.udg.mx/index.php/VSAO. All submissions will be rigorously reviewed through a double-blind peer review process.