ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the emergence of a movement for responsible food consumption in the city of Valdivia, in southern Chile: Cooperativa La Manzana. During the last two decades, citizens' movements and organizations playing a role in the democratization and re-embeddedness of food production and consumption have been studied in Europe and the United States. These movements have been conceptualized and grouped under the academic labels of "alternative food networks" (AFNs). This chapter presents the debate on AFNs by analyzing whether these frameworks provide insights into processes and experiences in social sites other than Europe and North America, whether its concepts help to understand self-organizing processes that are creating new markets and new subjects. It addresses some of these theoretical shortcomings and to shed light on issues raised in these questions, drawing on Assemblage Theory. The chapter explores assemblage thinking in order to understand these food initiatives relationally, as part of multiple experiences and arrangements of various entities in constant becoming.
