El Hadji Bafodé Gassama, Social demand and short food circuits: an interpretation of enriched giving through AMAPs and ASD markets«, Esprit Critique notebook,September 2025. https://espritcritique.hypotheses.org/5146

Summary:

The AMAPs and Sustainable Agriculture Markets (ASD), which teach new ways of relating between producers and consumers of food products, correspond to forms of production, distribution and consumption in short circuits where the reciprocal markers of the commitment between producer and consumer reflect links of gift and counter-gift, trust and solidarity. A close examination of Alain Caillé's theoretical proposal to revisit the Maussian gift triptych «giving-receiving-giving back» by adding to it the recognition of the prior expression of a demand, i.e. the quadriptych «asking-giving-receiving-giving back» directed us towards the search for the existence of a new social demand in Senegal for healthy and sustainable agriculture, quality food and the consumption of local products, at the expense of food from conventional agriculture. A French ethnographic survey in the PACA region and a Senegalese one, particularly in the Niayes area and on ASD markets, have enabled us to document the emergence of a new social demand for healthy food, particularly among the affluent classes and the upper middle classes of the urban Senegalese population. Although we can still describe it as a preliminary approach, we note that it is mainly driven by new nutritional concerns among the Senegalese.

Key words : AMAP, ASD markets, enriched gift paradigm, short cycle, social demand, sustainable food, PACA, Niayes area.

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Photo: «Vendeuses des marchés ASD» (photo credit: Ndeye Binta Dione)