Seeing through another lens: exploring diverse economies in Christchurch Farmers' Market

Abstract

This is a thesis about the way(s) that farmers' markets support social and economic resilience in a time of crisis. It explores the dynamics of livelihood resilience in the Christchurch Farmers’ Market, New Zealand in responding the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Unlike many studies that explore farmers' markets from the perspectives of production ad marketing, this thesis moves the gaze to the community behind the stalls and their reflections on an unprecedented time, in which they have to adapt to climate change and under restrictions associated with global COVID-19 pandemic. In this thesis, I adopt a diverse economies approach, to focus on the ways in which people make conscious decisions to work towards economic, social, and environmental justice. To capture these reflections, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork while working at the market for a year, incorporating eight key interviews with the stallholders, a customer survey, and personal reflective journals. The result is a descriptive ethnography of “seeing differently” the existing economic practices, where I ‘make visible’ how farmers and stallholders interact, responding to changes. This thesis finds ethical everyday economic practices at the Christchurch Farmers’ Market which are beyond monetary exchanges, indicating farmers' markets can be a space for people sharing cares collectively while reconnecting people to people, people to food, and people to environment. For the future, I suggest that we ‘see differently’ the everyday economic practices of farmers’ markets, and amplify them; this can further advance accommodate us to a more liveable world for all.