Baptiste graduated in Sociology and Political Science. He registered as a PhD Candidate at Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) end of 2014. His scientific interests include social movements, democratic participation, and politics about sustainable food and urban agriculture.
Research abstract
Baptiste Veroone’s investigation corroborates ethical concerns:
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Is (sustainable) food considered as a problem or a solution? Do the treatments of this topic by a variety of social groups foster its publicization and politicization?
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In how food constitute an opportunity to bridge green and social concerns?
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To what extent food is a tool to increase, not only awareness or the responsibility of citizens, but their power to think, to debate, and to construct individuals and collectives food alternatives?
In order to answer these concerns, even partially, with humility, but with a sociological rigor, Baptiste’s work focusses on the Brussels “movement” in favor of a sustainable food system, whether it focusses on food production, distribution, or its consumption. He analyses and compares various modes of engagement and participation of actors involved: associations, public institutions, activists, private companies, citizens. He is trying to understand how each group of actors appropriates and frames the topic of “sustainable” food, and what kind of publics they tend to constitute. In particular, he seeks to trace and to evaluate the place and the role of social and participative problematics in the scenes he observes. He follows several types of arenas where different actors meet and work together: networking space, workshops organized by institutions, forums or events organized by associations. Especially, Baptiste’s fieldwork focuses on three urban agriculture projects supported by the European ERDF policy that bring different “social worlds” (Anselm Strauss) to work together. Furthermore, he examines the mobilization activities and devices implemented by Brussels public institutions such as Bruxelles Environnement and local associations designed to promote engagement, citizenship, and politicization through to the subject of alimentation.
Baptiste choses to use ethnographic methods and interactionist and pragmatist theoretical concepts. In this way, he aims to apply a comprehensive approach of individuals’ social representations and an ecological approach of their practices, in order to better understand processes and contexts that bring people to act, to think, in particular ways.
To know more about Bapiste's contribution in the framework of Metrolab:
- [Participation à la conférence "RC21 : Rethinking Urban Global Justice: An international academic conference for critical urban studies"]http://metrolab.brussels/events/metrolab-participates-in-a-conference-in-leeds-from-the-11th-to-13th-september-2017)
- Participation à la 5eme journée doctorale du GIS "Démocratie et Participation"
