Ecofeminism and activism in Canada: fighting for survival of small family farms

REVISTA ARGENTINA DE ESTUDIOS CANADIENSES

Asociación Argentina de Estudios Canadienses

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2009 vol. 3 p. 141 - 141

1851-4448

he main goal of this article is to analyze the struggle for survival of small family farmsin Canada, from the perspective of ecofeminism. Canadian family farms are today beingthreatened by specialized large-scale agriculture and food commodification. Women farmers have been especially jeopardized, as they have to bear a large part of the costs following the deterioration of small farm incomes. For this reason, farm women have been leaders in activism and rural protests. In addition, a brief comparison is carried out in this paper, showing the main similarities and differences with the case of small family farms in Argentina. A major conclusion of this study is the important theoretical role that feminist ideas can play. They can help us to understand the nature of the marginalization of family farms worldwide, as well as to design creative and progressive strategies to cope with, and resist, a relentless colonization of traditional family and community spheres, by the mark