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First 'Intergalactic' Resistance Studies Conference

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

June 18-21, 2026 

Fifty shades of resistance: Rethinking deviance in food system transformation living labs in the Netherlands, Uganda and the United States of America

Harrison Esam Awuh
Doeke Sierd Warnder Meijer
Ajay Bailey
Brent Sandtke
Carmen Schwering
Year of publication: 2025
DOI: 10.63961/2025.203

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Abstract

Living labs have become increasingly popular as grounds for testing innovative practices that can lead to food system transformation. In these labs, rules and regulations are needed to ensure their everyday functioning. However, in the application of these rules and regulations, while acceptance is generally seen as the agreeable response that is expected from stakeholders or participants, resistance is often seen as the act of creating disorder. This paper contends that resistance has not been well understood or has been under-theorised in the governance of living labs as platforms for food system transformation. Using cases from radically different contexts (Uganda, The United States of America and The Netherlands), this paper qualitatively investigates the extent to which forms of resistance can contribute to adaptive food system transformation. The findings are as follows: 1. Resistance in all its forms is capable of being innovative. 2. Resistance evolves over time and can be part of a chain reaction with one form leading to another. 3. Trust and shared values between participants are key elements in all forms of resistance. These findings represent a shift from viewing all resistance as negative disordering to seeing certain forms of resistance and under certain conditions as possible positive reordering of food system transformation in living labs

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