Becoming-Interdependent: Democratic Praxis In-Against-and-Beyond Capitalism in Agrifood Collectives

Abstract

This paper contributes to debates on autonomous geographies by foregrounding and analysing democratic praxis in two grassroots agrifood collectives to interrogate the ways in which it constitutes a vehicle for postcapitalist transformation. We focus on the negotiation and (re)distribution of power (Case Study 1) and the politicisation of ambiguous human–more-than-human entanglements (Case Study 2) and find that the dynamics and frictions these collectives experience can be understood as diverse processes of becoming-interdependent. Becoming-interdependent refers to a collective recognition of existing and emerging relationships and dependencies (amongst human people as well as between humans and more-than-human actors) and efforts to continuously navigate these. Based on these insights, we discuss tensions between capitalist–postcapitalist realities and making–unmaking in grassroots collectives. We conclude by conceptualising becoming-interdependent as a deliberate response to the separations and abstractions inscribed in capitalism and by connecting it to debates on strategies for postcapitalist transformation.