The politics of fish as food: sustaining the unsustainable

Abstract

In this compilation thesis Viktor Vesterberg explores the politics surrounding the Swedish seafood system as they manifest in different contexts and at different levels in the Swedish society. Through an interdisciplinary Environmental Social Science approach that addresses the complexities of human- environmental relations, the politics of fish as food and the political rationalities that underpin them are investigated. In three case studies and four articles the politics that shape the Swedish seafood system are described and analysed; from the national level policy sphere to the practices of fishers, cooks and others that are trying to imagine a different seafood system. Through multiple methods that include policy analysis, ethnography as well as participant and action research oriented approaches this thesis engages with the interrelated questions of why we have a seafood system that undermines sustainable human-nature relationships, and how we can work to support a different system. Food is explored as an arena where we can witness how the politics of the dominant food system and fisheries management play out, but also as a point of resistance towards their consequences for communities, ecologies and culinary culture and heritage. Through close co-operation with stakeholders in the seafood system, such as fishers, cooks and cultural heritage organisations, this thesis contributes with knowledge on how researchers can work to establish communities of concern that further a seafood system that is attuned to thriving ecologies and communities, and one that produces diverse and vibrant experiences centered around fish as food.