At the ESA RN05 Midterm Conference: Uncharted Territories in the Sociology of Consumption, Petr Jehlička delivered a keynote titled “Eastern Europe, sustainable food consumption and the sociology of knowledge production: Insights from the epistemic periphery.” The talk explored how research from Eastern Europe can broaden our understanding of sustainable food consumption beyond Western-centric perspectives. Drawing on practices where consumption and production often overlap, and where sustainability is embedded in everyday, inclusive, and affordable routines, the keynote challenged dominant views of sustainability as niche, market-driven, or future-oriented. Instead, it highlighted alternative temporalities, traditions, and knowledge forms, inviting a rethinking of how sociological knowledge on sustainability is produced and whose voices shape it. By bringing attention to forms of “already existing” sustainable food consumption, the talk emphasized the need to reconsider innovation, temporality, and epistemic hierarchies in sustainability debates. Ultimately, it called for reversing (or at least diversifying) the global flow of ideas that define what sustainable consumption means.

You can find more information on the conference website.