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<p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">Media@Sydney presents: </span></p>
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<p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">Civil
Society Engagement: the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation </span></b></p>
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<p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">By Dr Alana Mann</span></p>
<p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">The University of Sydney
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<p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">Friday 12<sup>th</sup>
September 2013</span></p>
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<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">In
2008 the escalation of the world’s hungry to 870 million led to proclamations
of a new ‘global food crisis’. This seminar explores how civil society actors
including NGOs and social movements are establishing new understandings of
issues related to rural poverty and hunger and communicating these in formal
policy arenas. Based on interviews with policy-makers at the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome and civil society groups in Geneva and
Vienna, this research reveals patterns of action in political arenas where
non-state actors aim not only to foster reconsideration of chronic problems in
light of new frameworks and ideologies, but to change the very culture of
global governing institutions. The study assesses the dynamics of change occurring
in transnational food policy arenas as a result of increased interaction
between civil society actors and the UN. It seeks to explain how this
interaction occurs and to assess whether or not it has contributed to
institutional change that better accommodates the views of non-state actors on
food and agriculture policy. </span></p>
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<p class=""><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">Dr Alana Mann teaches in
the Media and Communications Department within the Faculty of Arts at the
University of Sydney. The focus of her research is political communication,
specifically the engagement of non-state actors in international politics. She
applies an interdisciplinary approach with a strong focus on democracy, social
justice and citizenship that is reflected in her focus on the power relations
between the media, governments, institutions and civil society actors in the
field of food security. Her book </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">Power
Shift: Global Activism in Food Politics</span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">,</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'"> <i>scheduled for publication by Palgrave
McMillan in March 2014, has been described by Professor Philip McMichael of
Cornell University as 'a comprehensive, multi-dimensional account of the global
food system</i> and <i>its generation from
crisis of a burgeoning food sovereignty counter-movement' that 'details the
organising trajectory and culture of global opposition through cumulative networking
and successful discursive reframing of what is at stake in a food insecure and
environmentally challenged world', offering a 'didactic and challenging
template to agri-food scholars and activists alike'. In her research and
teaching Mann draws on grounded case studies of agrarian movements in countries
including Chile, Mexico and Spain to theorise a diversity of counter-movement
organising strategies and political alliances. </i></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></i></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></p>
<p class=""><b><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">Details</span></u></b></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Date:
12</span><sup style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">th</sup><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> September 2013</span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Time:
3-5 pm</span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Location: </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Woolley
Common Room, </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Level
4, </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://sydney.edu.au/maps/campuses/?area=CAMDAR"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">John Woolley Building A20</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">, Science Road, University of Sydney
(Camperdown campus)</span></p>
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<p class=""><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">RSVPs: </span></b><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.eventbrite.com.au/org/4662406979?s=17518129"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">http://www.eventbrite.com.au/org/4662406979?s=17518129</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></p>
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<p class="" style="margin-left:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">or <b>t</b>o
Madeleine King e: </span><span lang="EN-US"><span class=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"><a href="mailto:mkin5545@uni.sydney.edu.au">mkin5545@uni.sydney.edu.au</a></span></span></span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></b></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></p>
<p class=""><b><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Media@Sydney is presented by the Department of Media and
Communications, University of Sydney </span></u></b></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">For more information contact
Dr Fiona Martin </span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">T: 0428391122 or 02 90365098</span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">E: </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:fiona.martin@sydney.edu.au"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">fiona.martin@sydney.edu.au</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">M: 0428 391 122</span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"><a href="http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/">http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/</a></span></p>
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