Where are the local communities?

Food sovereignty is used as a discursive resource by various social movements for different purposes. Typically, the actors who mobilize the discourse regarding food sovereignty bring different constituencies together under the term local communities. To be determined is whether all the actors engaged in food sovereignty form a homogenous group. By asking “Where are the local communities,” I deconstruct this category to show the complex and often contradictory underlying interests. As a case study, I rely on the food sovereignty narratives employed by different movements in agrobiodiversity negotiations. I also question the apparent homogeneity of this notion and highlight significant differences within the narratives of food sovereignty to show how these heterogeneous discourses translate into different policy objectives.