CONSCIOUS CORNISH CONSUMPTION, Local solidarities and the construction of an imagined community through the consumption of local products in Cornwall, UK
Keywords
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Issue Date
2018-08-15
Language
en
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis sets out to find out in what way the local product niche market in Cornwall expresses
and becomes a vehicle for local solidarities and the imagined community. The presented thesis
aims to provide a new perspective on the imagined community as a social and cultural construct
by analysing people’s consumption behaviour at Farmers’ Markets in Cornwall. It does so by
shedding light on how consumers and producers of local products at Farmers’ Markets give
meaning to the concept of ‘local’. Further, it analyses why producers promote their local
products as Cornish. The thesis concludes by discussing the various motivations people have
for consuming local products.
Three months of qualitative research have been conducted at Farmers’ Markets and
speciality stores in Cornwall, UK. A combination of mixed-methods and grounded theory has
been used to collect the data. Open surveys were carried out with producers and consumers at
Farmers’ Markets.
Both consumers and producers define the local by using various forms of proximity, in
particular geographic proximity. Local products tend to be marketed as Cornish because the
word Cornwall has a certain connotation in people’s hearts and minds. The motivations to
consume local products are based on various forms of solidarity – solidarity with the local
producers, the local economy, the local community, and the environment. These motivations
and solidarities can be perceived as associations people have with local products and with the
imagined community of Cornwall.
This research suggests that by analysing consumption behaviour, and in particular the
local product niche market, we can get a better understanding of the anxieties about the local
community in a post-Brexit era.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen