Abstract

South Korean cultivators share features with counterparts in both the global south and north. This combination of traits has produced a diversity of sources that underpin a food sovereignty movement. A case study of t’ojong, or native, seed activism illustrates how local systems of meaning and particular constellations of interests make food sovereignty appealing to a broad coalition of farmers, consumers, part-time cultivators, agricultural scientists, and activists for farmers and for women. The country’s experience demonstrates that responses to market encroachment on food production provide only part of the force driving food sovereignty movements.