Abstract
This study explores the intersection of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and the commons as a transformative framework for addressing socio-ecological vulnerabilities in rural areas shaped by capitalist agricultural intensification and exclusionary governance. Focusing on two grassroots initiatives in the upper region of Vinschgau, South Tyrol (Italy)—a social cooperative and a community cooperative—this research examines how these communities resist neoliberal economic models, which can exercise oppressive control over land and livelihoods, as well as systemic marginalization of vulnerable groups.
These SSE initiatives reclaim, manage, and reproduce common goods such as land, labour, and local knowledge through inclusive, multifunctional agricultural practices. They challenge entrenched structures of power that concentrate land ownership, suppress agroecological diversity, and silence non-normative bodies and ways of knowing.
Theoretically, the research is grounded in commoning theory, feminist care ethics, and political ecology. This interdisciplinary framework allows for an analysis of how grassroots actors mobilize embodied forms of activism—manual labor, caregiving, emotional resilience, and place-based rituals—as vital forms of resistance and healing. These embodied practices not only sustain livelihoods but also serve as political acts against disconnection, commodification, and disempowerment.
Methodologically, the project employs an intersectional, critical systems thinking approach attentive to researcher positionality and power dynamics. Care-based methodologies shape the research design, with repeated site visits, semi-structured interviews, and participatory tools such as photovoice, eco-social mapping, and timelines. These practices function as both boundary objects and healing tools, creating space for collective reflection, relational repair, and memory work—especially for participants who have experienced exclusion, dispossession, or social invisibility.
Findings reveal how these cooperatives enact resistance by revaluing and reactivating “un-economic” resources that stand at the margins of the system—including disabled labor, local biodiversity, and community-based knowledge—as essential elements of a regeneration towards liveable futures. They create inclusive governance structures and foster collective entrepreneurship rooted in care, solidarity, and ecological stewardship. However, these efforts also face persistent structural tensions, including policy neglect and resource precarity.
Implications for research highlight how participatory, care-informed methodologies can support more inclusive and just knowledge production. For activism, the study underscores the importance of making these grounded practices visible to inspire similar initiatives elsewhere. For policymaking, it points to the need for frameworks that recognize and support SSE-commons hybrids, including subsidies and legal structures that value social and ecological contributions beyond market performance.
This research is embedded in and contributes to the Horizon Europe project SERIGO, offering insights into how SSE initiatives can support grassroots resistance to marginalization, and oppression, and thanks to that, create the conditions for regeneration and “good life” in rural contexts through commoning practices.