001 - Local and Civil Resistance
Geographic Knowledge and Understanding
Local and civil society resistance to global interactions:
Rejection of globalised production, including campaigns against TNCs and in favour of local sourcing of food and goods by citizens.
Concepts
Local scale powers (civil society, people and cultures) can influence global interactions.
Aims
To have knowledge and understanding of how local resistance to global interactions impacted the success of a TNC
To have knowledge and understanding of a civil society campaign against a TNC.
To have knowledge and understanding of the local sourcing of food and how it has been campaigned at a local scale.
Key Terminology
No new specific terms will be used during this lesson.
Activity One - Local Resistance
Local resistance to TNCs can come in different formats. Sometimes the TNC just reads the situation wrong and does not adapt to the local market. This then leads to a rejection of that good and the TNC fails in that market, this is the case of Dunkin Donuts in India. The other is when the local people choose on purpose to fight the TNC. France has long had a love hate relationship with McDonald's and while the TNC has largely been successful there are still pockets of society that reject the company. The people who live on Ile de Oleron have fought through the political courts as well as protested in the streets about McDonald's wanting to open up a franchise on their island. Both forms of local resistance have had an impact on the TNCs but now we are going to find out more.
Develop two detailed examples of how the local resistance has created a rejection to a global brand.
Outline of the brand - who are they, where were they originally located, what do they sell?
How has the brand spread globally?
What have the local people done to reject the brand?
How successful has their rejection been?
Useful Resources
McDonald's
Activity Two - Civil Society
We now need to look at how civil society groups reject globalisation and we are going to do this in relation to food. Many restaurants are promoting their 'local' credentials by saying they are sourcing their food from local farms, but can this be rolled out further?
Watch the youtube clip and read the articles in the 'Useful Resources box' to create three detailed examples of how civil society groups are promoting the use of food from urban or local farms. The articles go from the national (Sustain, UK) to local scales (Dallas, USA and Manchester, UK). You will also be able to use the information learnt here in the Food and Health unit.
Who are they? (civil society group)
Where are they located?
What are they aiming to do or are doing to improve access to affordable, nutritious and sustainable food?
Has it been successful?
How is this a rejection of a globalisation?
Useful Resources
Activitists - To Read
Sustain - A civil society group and What we do (in this sections there are summaries of the action that is being taken against megafarms in Norfolk, advertising of harmful food and how London is taking strategic action to provide affordable, sustainable and nutritious food (Good Food Local Report)
Exam Style Question
Using examples, analyse the impacts of local/national scale resistance to global interactions. [12 marks]
This lesson was development in collaboration with Richard Allaway from geographyalltheway. For more resources please visit www.geographyalltheway.com