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Organic intimacy : emotional practices at an organic store

Pétursson, Jón Þór LU (2018) In Agriculture and Human Values 35(3). p.581-594
Abstract

The article tells the story of the rise and fall of the organic store Yggdrasill in Iceland. That story features humble founders, caring customers, dedicated staff, as well as anonymous investment funds, and it describes the conversion of organics from a niche market to mainstream consumption. Through an ethnographic account of everyday life at the organic store, the article analyzes how intimacy within the modern food chain is established through emotional practices. Staff and customers share feelings of reciprocity, not only towards organic producers, but also towards each other through acts of selling and buying organic products, forming intimate attachment and creating trust to counter the fears and anonymity of the modern food... (More)

The article tells the story of the rise and fall of the organic store Yggdrasill in Iceland. That story features humble founders, caring customers, dedicated staff, as well as anonymous investment funds, and it describes the conversion of organics from a niche market to mainstream consumption. Through an ethnographic account of everyday life at the organic store, the article analyzes how intimacy within the modern food chain is established through emotional practices. Staff and customers share feelings of reciprocity, not only towards organic producers, but also towards each other through acts of selling and buying organic products, forming intimate attachment and creating trust to counter the fears and anonymity of the modern food chain. Drawing on theories of affect and emotional practices and combining ethnography with narrative analysis, the article explores the role of emotions and how the doing of emotions makes organic food consumption meaningful within the industrial food system.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Affects, Consumption, Emotional labor, Emotions, Ethnography, Intimacy, Narrative, Organic food, Retail, Rhythm
in
Agriculture and Human Values
volume
35
issue
3
pages
581 - 594
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85045035688
ISSN
0889-048X
DOI
10.1007/s10460-018-9851-y
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4a436851-7712-4cd4-b569-c98eb4c628d5
date added to LUP
2018-04-20 15:34:35
date last changed
2022-04-09 23:23:07
@article{4a436851-7712-4cd4-b569-c98eb4c628d5,
  abstract     = {{<p>The article tells the story of the rise and fall of the organic store Yggdrasill in Iceland. That story features humble founders, caring customers, dedicated staff, as well as anonymous investment funds, and it describes the conversion of organics from a niche market to mainstream consumption. Through an ethnographic account of everyday life at the organic store, the article analyzes how intimacy within the modern food chain is established through emotional practices. Staff and customers share feelings of reciprocity, not only towards organic producers, but also towards each other through acts of selling and buying organic products, forming intimate attachment and creating trust to counter the fears and anonymity of the modern food chain. Drawing on theories of affect and emotional practices and combining ethnography with narrative analysis, the article explores the role of emotions and how the doing of emotions makes organic food consumption meaningful within the industrial food system.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pétursson, Jón Þór}},
  issn         = {{0889-048X}},
  keywords     = {{Affects; Consumption; Emotional labor; Emotions; Ethnography; Intimacy; Narrative; Organic food; Retail; Rhythm}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{581--594}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Agriculture and Human Values}},
  title        = {{Organic intimacy : emotional practices at an organic store}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9851-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10460-018-9851-y}},
  volume       = {{35}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}