Gleaning from Gluttony: an Australian youth subculture confronts the ethics of waste

As part of the global 'rights to the city' movement and mounting concern over food waste, results are presented here of an ethnographic study of young people in Australia who choose to glean food from supermarket 'dumpster bins' and open markets primarily for political reasons. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian geographer 2007-11, Vol.38 (3), p.279-296
Main Authors: Edwards, Ferne, Mercer, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Activists
Australia
Bgi / Prodig
Children & youth
Consumption
Culture
Dumpster diving
Environmentalism
Ethics
Food
Food Not Bombs
Freegans
Gleaning
Human geography
Oceania
Retail trade
Social activism
Social movements
Surveys
urban social movements
Urban sociology
Waste
Wastes
Youth
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Summary:As part of the global 'rights to the city' movement and mounting concern over food waste, results are presented here of an ethnographic study of young people in Australia who choose to glean food from supermarket 'dumpster bins' and open markets primarily for political reasons. These youth form part of an international 'freegan' subculture: the belief in 'minimising impact on the environment by consuming food that has literally been thrown away' (Macmillan English Dictionary Online 2002). The study explores the emergence of two related subcultures: 'Dumpster Diving' (the act of procuring food from a supermarket dumpster bin for individual consumption) and 'Food Not Bombs' (a global-spanning group who collect left-over food from markets to cook and serve to people on the street). The analysis focuses on the ethics embedded within their alternative consumption diets. These findings are analysed in terms of the creation of their alternative identities performed on temporal-spatial terrains, exemplifying the role of the contemporary activist's use of space, place and culture in relation to social issues.
ISSN:0004-9182
1465-3311
DOI:10.1080/00049180701639174