Cet article propose une réflexion collective sur l’importance de l’engagement militant dans la recherche en agriculture urbaine. Le cas français est analysé au miroir du scholar activism Nord-américain. Il s’appuie sur une revue de la littérature, complétée par une série de séminaires. Ancrée dans la géographie critique, l’agriculture urbaine apparait comme un champ de recherche militant aux Etats Unis qui se concentre sur le jardinage communautaire et promeut la justice alimentaire. Dans le contexte français, il emprunte à des registres et se consacre à des espaces et acteurs beaucoup plus diversifiés. La recherche en agriculture urbaine y est encore dominée par un idéal d’objectivisme et marquée par un déficit de réflexivité critique et politique. L’article se conclut par un appel à plus de réflexivité critique en ce domaine.
This article is a collective reflection on the militant commitment as shaping the research field of urban agriculture. The French case is analyzed in the mirror of the North American scholar activism experience. It is based on a literature review completed by a series of seminars and interviews devoted to researchers' commitment experiences. In the United States, researchers who define themselves as activists clearly refer to critical and radical traditions of geography. Academic activism is associated to identified epistemic communities and designates relatively codified ways of conceiving research to serve community struggles and projects. In France, while there are many examples of engaged intellectual, political commitment is above all an individual affair. And, it is only recently that French geography has been influenced by critical currents. Research in urban agriculture is part of an academic activism claimed in the United States. it focuses on community gardening and is part of the overall goal of food justice. In France, it borrows from registers and focus on much more diversified spaces and actors. Research in urban agriculture is still dominated by an ideal of objectivism and marked by a lack of critical and political reflexivity. The article concludes with a call for reflexivity to explicit the ontological and epistemic assumptions of this field of research.