Date of Award
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Zhang, Jing
Area of Concentration
General Studies
Abstract
This undergraduate thesis poses the question: in the face of global issues regarding food security, environmental degradation, and social inequality, are there any grassroots communitarian solutions to making sustainable and equitable food production systems that challenge the progressivist industrial growth model, and if so how do they manifest? My field research examines two case studies of agricultural intentional communities and I posit that these non-cohesive and sporadic communities cropping up worldwide, although not actively engaged in any legal or political struggles, are enacting real social change at the level of the lifeworld and thus, constitute a New Social Movement. I adopt a critical lens for analyzing this movement and one of the most interesting points of friction that I discovered is how we define “community” in this age of globalization. Furthermore, I present an argument for documentary film as a driver of social change and I endorse a more participatory cinema that works to break down technical and institutional hierarchies between filmmaker and subject. I examine the role that intellectuals and academic institutions play in the participation and representation of social movements, again, taking a critical stance of my own methodological and stylistic choices. The film component of this thesis showcases the programs that these farms offer and how the audience can get involved in the movement. To make information about these communities more accessible to wider audiences, the film can be found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TFXWc-kmMU&feature=youtu.be
Recommended Citation
Bonilla, Mariana, "“What we are doing here is small but I think this is the future”: Two Case Studies for Establishing Agricultural Intentional Communities as a New Social Movement" (2017). Theses & ETDs. 5306.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5306