Dr Alexandra Sexton

- The material and cultural politics of food: I am particularly interested in the ways that notions of edibility, novelty and ‘good’ food become established, as well as how they change. I have conducted work examining how alternative proteins have challenged the ontological categories of ‘meat’, ‘milk’ and other animal foods, and the biopolitics inherent to the establishment of these technologies as both edible and better foodstuffs.

- The geographies and political economies of (food) innovation: my research also investigates the changing economic geographies of food innovation that alternative proteins have prompted in recent years. I am especially interested in the relationship between place and the cultures of innovation, and have examined the specific role the high-tech region of Silicon Valley has played in shaping the material and economic trajectories of alternative proteins. As part of this work, my research interrogates the notion of ‘disruption’ as always beneficial and benevolent, exploring how alternative proteins represent both disruption and a continuation of the food system in different and problematic ways.

- Defining global food problems and solutions: Linked to the previous strand, I am interested in the historical and changing discourses of food security in policy and corporate contexts, examining how and by whom global food problems are defined and the “politics of possibility” this creates in shaping the knowledge fields, actors and solutions that become legitimised and normalised.

My current project explores the implications of alternative proteins for rural landscapes and livelihoods in the UK and considers what role, if any, these technologies might play in a just protein transition for UK agriculture. I am also conducting a social history of protein to understand how this macronutrient has been conceptualised from its scientific discovery to more recently becoming a matter of both planetary concern and salvation.