Knowledge, Power and the Governance of Food System Transformation

Abstract

This paper examines how power-knowledge relations shape the mobilization, recognition, and suppression of local knowledge in food system transformation. Drawing on Foucault's subjugated knowledges, we analyse how experiential, place-based expertise encounters institutional resistance within regional governance frameworks. Through case studies from Skåne and Värmland, Sweden, we identify forms of transformative local knowledge, strategies actors employ to sustain them, and mechanisms of their marginalization. Our findings reveal how governance routines, regulatory norms, and national policy agendas constrain transformative potential, while demonstrating how local actors' agency creates alternative pathways for systemic change.