Introduction. Foodways as Sites of Knowledge and Transformation

This introductory chapter frames the volume within critical food studies and political ecology by conceptualizing foodways as relational practices through which human and more-than-human lives are mutually shaped. Based on empirically grounded, participatory, and community-based research, the contributions explore fishing, agriculture, food preparation, and meal sharing as sites of knowledge production, ethical engagement, and social reproduction. Food systems are approached as foodscapes: spatial and political formations shaped by unequal access to land, water, and labour within broader regimes of power and global market dynamics, within which communities enact situated forms of agency. Challenging dominant technoscientific and development-oriented narratives, the volume advances a relational and postdevelopment perspective that foregrounds local knowledges, multispecies subjectivities, and everyday practices. Drawing on feminist, postcolonial, and radical food geography approaches, it examines how communities navigate ecological change, urbanization, and extractivism. Through case studies in Morocco and Jordan, with a focus on artisanal fishing and urban food initiatives, the chapters highlight forms of cooperation, learning, and collective negotiation. Rather than proposing universal solutions, the book offers a situated and reflexive approach to research grounded in long-term engagement, inviting readers to rethink food systems as sites of justice and more liveable multispecies futures.