Vol. 3 No. 1 (2016): Data, discourse, and divergence

This issue takes us across the country, highlighting particular communities where food-related transformation is happening, encouraging us to think differently about technology and subjectivity. Notably, the methods used by several authors involve critically dissecting language—whether that be the discourse or terminology used by food systems change-makers or by people who are themselves affected by food system change. Often, the ordinariness of familiar terms or concepts belies their complexity and hidden sides, necessitating closer scrutiny. “Big data” is one such phenomenon, upon which Kelly Bronson and Irena Knezevic shine a critical spotlight. Showing how current data sources and data collection technologies differ from those of the past, the authors make the case that current big data are more than neutral numbers, but benefit productivist food regimes. (photo: David Szanto)