Performative legitimacy from the margins: small rural producers and nonhegemonic market practices in the globalized honey trade

Despite their significant contribution to food production, small rural producers in the Brazilian honey market face marginalization under internationally driven regulatory standards that favor large industrial producers. Globalization has created a dominant market version that has sidelined small rural producers’ practices. This study directly addresses the theoretical problem of resilience practices under rigid agri-food chain controls, shifting the analytical focus from macrostructural exclusion to the strategies used by marginalized actors. Drawing on in-depth interviews and a constructivist market studies approach, the study shows how actors from the Global South who have been marginalized by globalization sustain their market presence through practices that shape the market. We introduce Performative Market Legitimacy to conceptualize the enactment of legitimacy through interconnected market practices rather than a distinct type of legitimacy. These practices generate multiple markets that coexist and compete with globally dominant ones, reshaping contemporary market logics.