Doctoral Degrees (School of Public Leadership)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (School of Public Leadership) by browse.metadata.advisor "Drimie, S."

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    Learning for change : youth and niche environments in food system transitions
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Metelerkamp, Luke; Drimie, S.; Biggs, Reinette, 1979-; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : The global food system exists in a state of increasing dysfunction for both people and planet. The need for a deep systemic transition of the food system is increasingly apparent, as is the need for research into understanding how innovations can be fostered to support these transitions. From an employment perspective, the rapid corporatisation of the food system has driven a major restructuring of work opportunities within agriculture and its associated value chains. Moving into the future, this agricultural restructuring will have major implications for Africa, where the working lives of the majority of the 800 million youth predicted enter the workforce by 2050 will be directly affected by the form the food system takes. Within the South African context, which is the focus of this study, 50 percent of youth are ensnared in a complex and intractable unemployment crisis that is being driven, in part, by a transition toward a highly corporatised food regime. This is particularly true for the formal agricultural sector which, despite being identified as a powerful engine for job creation, is amassing considerable profits while shedding jobs. Concurrently, in the informal sector, many youth are turning their backs on traditional subsistence and small-scale farming livelihoods in spite of high unemployment. Against this backdrop, this study set out on a dual line of enquiry: One, to probe this paradoxical turn away from small-scale agriculture - trying to understand what a sustainable, employment intensive agricultural future would look like in the eyes of South African youth. The second, to understand where the new knowledge and competencies for such a system could come from, as well as how to improve youth access to this. In doing so, the research aimed to enable food system change by offering practical tools and insights to youth and other food systems actors seeking to transgress the systemic limitations of the current food regime. The thesis is divided into three distinct but complementary journal articles that applied a mix of narrative and social network-based approaches. Literature on systemic transitions, food systems, youth employment and learning were drawn together to provide a theoretical grounding for these papers. Paper One reports on a narrative based enquiry into youth attitudes and aspirations towards careers in agriculture. What emerged was that in spite of the intense social stigma attached to agricultural careers, around 30 percent of the 573 youth surveyed harbored positive attitudes towards careers in the sector. Encouragingly, many of these youth demonstrated a clear interest and passion for socially orientated micro-entrepreneurship in agriculture. However, in the current food system, the careers these youth aspired to were unattainable and the work available to them was seen as demeaning and unrewarding. In considering these youth aspirations, the research suggests that fertile ground exists for change in the food system. Transitioning to a socially and ecologically just food system, however, is a knowledge intensive undertaking. Currently, prospects for this transition are hamstrung by economic power imbalances, discordant food policy and a failing education system. Papers Two and Three suggest that achieving a transition towards a just and sustainable food system will require training that breaks current systemic lock-in and builds the skills needed to disrupt the current unsustainable trajectory of the food system. Due to the significant numbers of people in search of employment, and the shortage of trainers with the necessary transitional competencies, radical new models of capacity development are required. These models need to be able to amplify and transfer tiny (niche) pockets of place-based experience to very large audiences at low cost. To do this, new capacity building models will need to be able to operate both within the struggling formal training and extension sectors as well as beyond them in new formations. These papers further demonstrate that the social networks within grassroots food system niches are under-recognised nurseries of socio-ecological innovation. These networks demonstrated a tenacious appetite for learning that played out in complete isolation from any formal training and extension institutions. In doing so, these networks displayed remarkable pedagogic sophistication while operating at very low cost - largely due to the culture of reciprocity in which they were grounded. The research also confirmed what other transition theorists have suggested: that competency for transitions in complex, socio-ecological systems is a network outcome and not an individual characteristic. The unique contribution of this thesis to the broader debate around food system transitions and the role of youth is threefold. Firstly, presents youth narratives on agricultural careers that constitute a politically resonant youth mandate for food system transformation. Secondly, it provided new insights into how the informal and fragmented knowledge that is generated within sustainability niches can be wielded more effectively to support youth in acquiring the competencies they need to accelerate systemic change. Finally, it proposes a preliminary method for supporting educators, curriculum designers and social activists to harness the power of niche knowledge networks. This thesis highlights that the needs and aspirations of youth present an opportunity for transformation in the food system. To achieve this, local civil society, alternative food retail cooperatives and aspirant farming communities will need to be equipped with new tools for amplifying latent and fragmented knowledge resources in their specific contexts. Niche networks will also need a ramping up of support and investment.