Choosing our Food Futures Through Participation? A Critique of ‘Scenario Workshops’ in Lofoten

Abstract

With a growing population, climate change and competition for space, the global food system is facing important transformative challenges. These pressures on our global food system demand that we pursue profound transformation, in order to feed a growing population with a limited space. But how should these transformations be undertaken and towards which ‘food futures’? Over the past 50 years, we have relied on science to define our food futures. However, this paper argues that in order to choose our food futures, we should consider going beyond the current science-based politics of food and also include other relevant sources of knowledge (such as local and traditional forms of knowledge) through participatory mechanisms. But participation is not a panacea and needs to be used with caution. Some critiques of participation argue that it is not critical enough. Others emphasise that participation may actually constitute a means to reinforce power structures that are already in place. It is therefore important to continuously and critically challenge the purposes and methods of participation. This paper attempts such reflection on a specific participatory method called ‘scenario workshops’. Within the framework of a research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council, we ran a scenario workshop during fieldwork in June 2013 in Norway, on the topic of opening petroleum areas in the wild, pristine and fishery-rich area of Lofoten (northern Norway). This paper applies five key critiques of participation in analysing the performance of the Lofoten scenario workshop, including the opportunities and challenges that became apparent.