Urban Agriculture and Collective Gardens in Quebec
In “developed” countries, self-provisioning urban agricultural practices reappear periodically during phases of adjustment of the capitalist economy. It is actually the case in North America. The most recent experiences encourage collective production. They emerge in Quebec in the context of an increasing recognition of the social economy by the State. Supported by community groups, collective gardens appear as an alternative to food help for the impoverished and as a tool to alleviate social exclusion. Women are the principal protagonists of these recent initiatives, either as members of the supporting groups or as producers. While certain researchers argue that feminine community organizations active in the domain of food security have a strong potential for the individual and collective empowerment of women, others think that in times of decentralization of social programs, these are rather associated with a “domestication of the public space”. Are the emerging experiences of collective self-provisioning gardening empowering to women or are they contributing to the domestication of the public space ? Relying mainly on fieldwork data collected in Quebec, the present article seeks to bring answers to this question.