Alison Hope Alkon and Julie Guthman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter argues that food activists need to look beyond the politics of their plates to engage with broader questions of racial and economic inequalities, strategy and political transformation. ...
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This chapter argues that food activists need to look beyond the politics of their plates to engage with broader questions of racial and economic inequalities, strategy and political transformation. It grounds the examples that follow in two ongoing scholarly debates. The first regards the role of inequalities, particularly of race and class, in shaping past and present industrial and alternative food systems. The second looks to strategies and tactics. While some have argued that the provision of relatively apolitical alternatives to industrial food systems lays the groundwork for transformative change, the editors of this volume urge activists to follow those profiled in this book towards more cooperative, oppositional and collective strategic choices. The introduction ends with an overview of the chapters to come.Less
This chapter argues that food activists need to look beyond the politics of their plates to engage with broader questions of racial and economic inequalities, strategy and political transformation. It grounds the examples that follow in two ongoing scholarly debates. The first regards the role of inequalities, particularly of race and class, in shaping past and present industrial and alternative food systems. The second looks to strategies and tactics. While some have argued that the provision of relatively apolitical alternatives to industrial food systems lays the groundwork for transformative change, the editors of this volume urge activists to follow those profiled in this book towards more cooperative, oppositional and collective strategic choices. The introduction ends with an overview of the chapters to come.
Jane Midgley and Helen Coulson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781447318385
- eISBN:
- 9781447318408
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447318385.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
This chapter introduces and critically discusses the concept of food justice; broadly conceived as the inter-relation between social justice and environmental justice as these issues are expressed ...
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This chapter introduces and critically discusses the concept of food justice; broadly conceived as the inter-relation between social justice and environmental justice as these issues are expressed within food systems. The chapter takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring food justice and builds on a range of literatures to explore the development of this important and powerful organising concept for contemporary society in challenging structural inequalities and environmental problems. The discussion explores the application of justice in relation to urban food systems more generally through focusing on particular actions within the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. However, the chapter concludes that without radical reform of the institutional arrangements and practices in this and other urban food systems the pervading structural inequalities and injustices risk remaining.Less
This chapter introduces and critically discusses the concept of food justice; broadly conceived as the inter-relation between social justice and environmental justice as these issues are expressed within food systems. The chapter takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring food justice and builds on a range of literatures to explore the development of this important and powerful organising concept for contemporary society in challenging structural inequalities and environmental problems. The discussion explores the application of justice in relation to urban food systems more generally through focusing on particular actions within the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. However, the chapter concludes that without radical reform of the institutional arrangements and practices in this and other urban food systems the pervading structural inequalities and injustices risk remaining.
Melvin Delgado
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231160094
- eISBN:
- 9780231534253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231160094.003.0002
- Subject:
- Social Work, Social Policy
This chapter proposes the use of social justice as a guiding paradigm in assessing and addressing obesity in undervalued communities, which tend to be predominantly low-income/low-wealth, urban, and ...
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This chapter proposes the use of social justice as a guiding paradigm in assessing and addressing obesity in undervalued communities, which tend to be predominantly low-income/low-wealth, urban, and of color. In making the case for a social justice paradigm in dealing with the urban obesity crisis, the chapter looks at social justice movements and compares social justice perspectives with individual perspectives. It also considers three interrelated issues that affect obesity: food justice, environmental justice, and spatial justice. Finally, it discusses health promotion programs that utilize a social justice framework and highlights the issues that must be taken into account when evaluating the effectiveness of such programs.Less
This chapter proposes the use of social justice as a guiding paradigm in assessing and addressing obesity in undervalued communities, which tend to be predominantly low-income/low-wealth, urban, and of color. In making the case for a social justice paradigm in dealing with the urban obesity crisis, the chapter looks at social justice movements and compares social justice perspectives with individual perspectives. It also considers three interrelated issues that affect obesity: food justice, environmental justice, and spatial justice. Finally, it discusses health promotion programs that utilize a social justice framework and highlights the issues that must be taken into account when evaluating the effectiveness of such programs.
Joshua Sbicca
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
The formation of food-labor alliances in Los Angeles pushes food justice politics beyond a focus on food access, culturally appropriate food, and self-determination by strategically emphasizing ...
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The formation of food-labor alliances in Los Angeles pushes food justice politics beyond a focus on food access, culturally appropriate food, and self-determination by strategically emphasizing economic inequalities and working conditions and engaging in confrontational politics. These alliances reveal that it is important to have highly visible labor campaigns, the integration of activists with direct knowledge or experience of food work and food insecurity into the food movement, and labor activists who will combat food deserts and therefore work alongside food justice activists through the lens of poverty. In short, it is essential to build a food movement that can fight to take care of the hands that grow, process, deliver, and sell the food meant to nourish the good food revolution.Less
The formation of food-labor alliances in Los Angeles pushes food justice politics beyond a focus on food access, culturally appropriate food, and self-determination by strategically emphasizing economic inequalities and working conditions and engaging in confrontational politics. These alliances reveal that it is important to have highly visible labor campaigns, the integration of activists with direct knowledge or experience of food work and food insecurity into the food movement, and labor activists who will combat food deserts and therefore work alongside food justice activists through the lens of poverty. In short, it is essential to build a food movement that can fight to take care of the hands that grow, process, deliver, and sell the food meant to nourish the good food revolution.
Phoebe Godfrey
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036573
- eISBN:
- 9780262341554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036573.003.0008
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
This chapter critically applies the concept of reflexive food justice to the creation and running of a non-profit shared-use commercial kitchen, CLiCK, Inc., in Eastern Connecticut in order to ...
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This chapter critically applies the concept of reflexive food justice to the creation and running of a non-profit shared-use commercial kitchen, CLiCK, Inc., in Eastern Connecticut in order to critically evaluate to what degree it does or does not meet the criteria of reflexive food justice. The purpose of such an analysis is to question the ways in which shared use kitchens can act as agents of progressive social change in relation to facilitating low-income community members to have access of a commercial kitchen so that they may incubate a food business, which may or may not involve a food tuck or food cart. In many states food trucks and food carts need to be affiliated with a brick and mortar kitchen and so CLiCK makes such an affiliation affordable to those who might not be able to otherwise start a food business. Since the chapter is written by CLICK’s co-founder and Board President this critical analysis provides intimate details as to the struggles in not just running a non-profit shared use commercial kitchen, but in doing so in ways that seek to promote progressive social change, both within the organization itself and the surrounding community.Less
This chapter critically applies the concept of reflexive food justice to the creation and running of a non-profit shared-use commercial kitchen, CLiCK, Inc., in Eastern Connecticut in order to critically evaluate to what degree it does or does not meet the criteria of reflexive food justice. The purpose of such an analysis is to question the ways in which shared use kitchens can act as agents of progressive social change in relation to facilitating low-income community members to have access of a commercial kitchen so that they may incubate a food business, which may or may not involve a food tuck or food cart. In many states food trucks and food carts need to be affiliated with a brick and mortar kitchen and so CLiCK makes such an affiliation affordable to those who might not be able to otherwise start a food business. Since the chapter is written by CLICK’s co-founder and Board President this critical analysis provides intimate details as to the struggles in not just running a non-profit shared use commercial kitchen, but in doing so in ways that seek to promote progressive social change, both within the organization itself and the surrounding community.
Allison Gray and Ronald Hinch (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447336013
- eISBN:
- 9781447336051
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447336013.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This book contextualises, evaluates, and problematises the (lack of) legal and regulatory organisation involved in the many processes of food production, distribution, and consumption. Turning a ...
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This book contextualises, evaluates, and problematises the (lack of) legal and regulatory organisation involved in the many processes of food production, distribution, and consumption. Turning a criminological gaze on the conditions under which food is (un)regulated, this book encompasses a range of discussions on the problematic conditions under which food (dis)connects with humanity and its consequences on public health and well-being, nonhuman animals, and the environment, often simultaneously. Influenced by critical criminology, social harm approach, green criminology, corporate criminology, and victimology, while engaging with legal, rural, geographic, and political sciences, the concept of food crime fuses diverse research by questioning issues of legality, criminality, deviance, harm, social justice, ethics, and morality within food systems. Evident problems range from food safety and food fraud, to illegal agricultural labour and state-corporate food crimes, to obesity and food deserts, to livestock welfare and genetically modified foods, to the role of agriculture in climate change and food waste, to food democracy and corporate co-optation of food movements. Theorising and researching these problems involves questioning the processes of lacking or insufficient regulation, absent or ineffective enforcement, resulting harms, and broader issues of governance, corruption, and justice. Due to the contemporary corporatisation of food and the subsequent distancing of humans from foodstuffs and food systems, not only is it important to think criminologically about food, but the criminological study of food may help make criminology relevant today.Less
This book contextualises, evaluates, and problematises the (lack of) legal and regulatory organisation involved in the many processes of food production, distribution, and consumption. Turning a criminological gaze on the conditions under which food is (un)regulated, this book encompasses a range of discussions on the problematic conditions under which food (dis)connects with humanity and its consequences on public health and well-being, nonhuman animals, and the environment, often simultaneously. Influenced by critical criminology, social harm approach, green criminology, corporate criminology, and victimology, while engaging with legal, rural, geographic, and political sciences, the concept of food crime fuses diverse research by questioning issues of legality, criminality, deviance, harm, social justice, ethics, and morality within food systems. Evident problems range from food safety and food fraud, to illegal agricultural labour and state-corporate food crimes, to obesity and food deserts, to livestock welfare and genetically modified foods, to the role of agriculture in climate change and food waste, to food democracy and corporate co-optation of food movements. Theorising and researching these problems involves questioning the processes of lacking or insufficient regulation, absent or ineffective enforcement, resulting harms, and broader issues of governance, corruption, and justice. Due to the contemporary corporatisation of food and the subsequent distancing of humans from foodstuffs and food systems, not only is it important to think criminologically about food, but the criminological study of food may help make criminology relevant today.
Garrett M. Broad
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287440
- eISBN:
- 9780520962569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287440.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter assesses the benefits and challenges of community-based food justice groups engaging in networks that extend beyond their respective localities. The extension process offered ...
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This chapter assesses the benefits and challenges of community-based food justice groups engaging in networks that extend beyond their respective localities. The extension process offered opportunities to disseminate lessons to new geographic arenas, to integrate outside knowledge, and to work collaboratively with other social justice groups toward shared goals. However, this process also gives rise to the question: Could a push in an extra-local direction endanger food justice advocates' efforts while focusing at the local level of their own communities? On that note, the chapter presents how the networked organization Rooted in Community (RIC) encouraged youth activists to recognize the systemic and geographically widespread nature of food injustice, while building capacity among the staff of community-based groups to establish collective cultural and institutional resistance.Less
This chapter assesses the benefits and challenges of community-based food justice groups engaging in networks that extend beyond their respective localities. The extension process offered opportunities to disseminate lessons to new geographic arenas, to integrate outside knowledge, and to work collaboratively with other social justice groups toward shared goals. However, this process also gives rise to the question: Could a push in an extra-local direction endanger food justice advocates' efforts while focusing at the local level of their own communities? On that note, the chapter presents how the networked organization Rooted in Community (RIC) encouraged youth activists to recognize the systemic and geographically widespread nature of food injustice, while building capacity among the staff of community-based groups to establish collective cultural and institutional resistance.
Garrett M. Broad
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287440
- eISBN:
- 9780520962569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287440.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This concluding chapter asserts that the study in this book highlights the potential of culturally driven grassroots and people-powered activism—both of which started during the age of ...
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This concluding chapter asserts that the study in this book highlights the potential of culturally driven grassroots and people-powered activism—both of which started during the age of neoliberalism—to advance food system transformation. Guided by a broader social justice vision, food justice organizations offer up food as a uniquely engaging tool that helps build critical consciousness, develop alternative institutions, promote economic development, and cultivate skills for health and well-being among those who have long been subject to food system injustice. Only through this expansive mission will food serve as an effective platform onto which leaders could advance a just, equitable, and sustainable society.Less
This concluding chapter asserts that the study in this book highlights the potential of culturally driven grassroots and people-powered activism—both of which started during the age of neoliberalism—to advance food system transformation. Guided by a broader social justice vision, food justice organizations offer up food as a uniquely engaging tool that helps build critical consciousness, develop alternative institutions, promote economic development, and cultivate skills for health and well-being among those who have long been subject to food system injustice. Only through this expansive mission will food serve as an effective platform onto which leaders could advance a just, equitable, and sustainable society.
Lindsay K. Campbell
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501707506
- eISBN:
- 9781501714795
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501707506.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Chapter five traces the network of actors and storylines involved in creating, advocating for (or resisting), and maintaining urban agriculture in New York City. First, it describes a brief history ...
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Chapter five traces the network of actors and storylines involved in creating, advocating for (or resisting), and maintaining urban agriculture in New York City. First, it describes a brief history of community gardening as a social movement in New York City since the 1970s. Then, it explores the vibrant material practices and varied narratives employed by a newer wave of civic practitioners engaging in urban agriculture from the 2000s to the present. The chapter parses this more recent trend into its various threads, which range from a focus on local food production, to commitments to food justice, to an interest in neighborhood stabilization and youth empowerment.Less
Chapter five traces the network of actors and storylines involved in creating, advocating for (or resisting), and maintaining urban agriculture in New York City. First, it describes a brief history of community gardening as a social movement in New York City since the 1970s. Then, it explores the vibrant material practices and varied narratives employed by a newer wave of civic practitioners engaging in urban agriculture from the 2000s to the present. The chapter parses this more recent trend into its various threads, which range from a focus on local food production, to commitments to food justice, to an interest in neighborhood stabilization and youth empowerment.
Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
Based on ethnographic fieldwork with farmworkers and farmworker advocates in California and Florida, this chapter explores the progress made by farmworker-led, consumer-supported movements for ...
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Based on ethnographic fieldwork with farmworkers and farmworker advocates in California and Florida, this chapter explores the progress made by farmworker-led, consumer-supported movements for farmworker justice. It argues for the need to break down divides between producer and consumer, rural and urban, and individual and community based approaches to changing the food system. It contends that farmworker-led consumer-based campaigns and solidarity movements, such as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) current Campaign for Fair Food, and The United Farmworkers’ historical grape boycotts, successfully work to challenge agrarian imaginaries, drawing consumers into movement-based actions. This research illustrates the possibilities for alternative food movement advocates and coalitions to build upon farmworker-led campaigns and embrace workers as leaders.Less
Based on ethnographic fieldwork with farmworkers and farmworker advocates in California and Florida, this chapter explores the progress made by farmworker-led, consumer-supported movements for farmworker justice. It argues for the need to break down divides between producer and consumer, rural and urban, and individual and community based approaches to changing the food system. It contends that farmworker-led consumer-based campaigns and solidarity movements, such as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) current Campaign for Fair Food, and The United Farmworkers’ historical grape boycotts, successfully work to challenge agrarian imaginaries, drawing consumers into movement-based actions. This research illustrates the possibilities for alternative food movement advocates and coalitions to build upon farmworker-led campaigns and embrace workers as leaders.
Monica M. White
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643694
- eISBN:
- 9781469643717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643694.003.0081
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Whereas previous chapters discussed strategies employed by those who stayed in the South, this chapter tells the stories of the descendants of those who migrated north, focusing on Detroit. While far ...
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Whereas previous chapters discussed strategies employed by those who stayed in the South, this chapter tells the stories of the descendants of those who migrated north, focusing on Detroit. While far in time and space from the other examples of Black agricultural resistance discussed in this book, contemporary communities in Detroit are similarly turning to agriculture as a strategy of survival and resistance. The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) formed in 2006, setting goals of improving education, food access, and collective buying. DBCFSN is rooted in a pan-African philosophy of pride and solidarity and draws from founders’ experiences in Detroit’s Black Power era and in city government. Central to DBCFSN’s approach to community food sovereignty are antiracist and anticapitalist principles that guide cooperative efforts, political education, and organizing designed to dismantle systems of white supremacy embedded in the food system. DBCFSN’s most well-known projects – the Detroit Food Policy Council, D-Town Farm, and the Ujamaa Food Buying Club – enact the strategies of prefigurative politics, economic autonomy, and commons as praxis to build collective agency and community resilience.Less
Whereas previous chapters discussed strategies employed by those who stayed in the South, this chapter tells the stories of the descendants of those who migrated north, focusing on Detroit. While far in time and space from the other examples of Black agricultural resistance discussed in this book, contemporary communities in Detroit are similarly turning to agriculture as a strategy of survival and resistance. The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) formed in 2006, setting goals of improving education, food access, and collective buying. DBCFSN is rooted in a pan-African philosophy of pride and solidarity and draws from founders’ experiences in Detroit’s Black Power era and in city government. Central to DBCFSN’s approach to community food sovereignty are antiracist and anticapitalist principles that guide cooperative efforts, political education, and organizing designed to dismantle systems of white supremacy embedded in the food system. DBCFSN’s most well-known projects – the Detroit Food Policy Council, D-Town Farm, and the Ujamaa Food Buying Club – enact the strategies of prefigurative politics, economic autonomy, and commons as praxis to build collective agency and community resilience.
Brian K. Obach
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029094
- eISBN:
- 9780262328302
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029094.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Social justice concerns have been tied to the organic cause at least since its embrace by the 1960s counterculture, but how social justice is perceived and pursued is complicated and contradictory. ...
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Social justice concerns have been tied to the organic cause at least since its embrace by the 1960s counterculture, but how social justice is perceived and pursued is complicated and contradictory. One interpretation sees social justice in support for family farmers imperilled by competition from big agribusiness. In the minds of many, organic provides an avenue for these farmers to receive a fair return for their products. There is tension between this sentiment and the fact that organic goods command a price premium that places them out of reach of many low income consumers. The struggle for food justice has developed in parallel with the organic movement, yet there is little overlap between them. The matter of farm labor further complicates social justice pursuits as many organic farms employ migrant workers, underpaid interns or engage in other exploitative labor practices. The matter of social justice remains a challenge for the organic movement.Less
Social justice concerns have been tied to the organic cause at least since its embrace by the 1960s counterculture, but how social justice is perceived and pursued is complicated and contradictory. One interpretation sees social justice in support for family farmers imperilled by competition from big agribusiness. In the minds of many, organic provides an avenue for these farmers to receive a fair return for their products. There is tension between this sentiment and the fact that organic goods command a price premium that places them out of reach of many low income consumers. The struggle for food justice has developed in parallel with the organic movement, yet there is little overlap between them. The matter of farm labor further complicates social justice pursuits as many organic farms employ migrant workers, underpaid interns or engage in other exploitative labor practices. The matter of social justice remains a challenge for the organic movement.
Meleiza Figueroa and Alison Hope Alkon
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter examines two food hubs in Oakland, CA and Chicago, IL in light of the food justice and neoliberalism critiques explained in the introduction to this volume. With regard to food justice, ...
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This chapter examines two food hubs in Oakland, CA and Chicago, IL in light of the food justice and neoliberalism critiques explained in the introduction to this volume. With regard to food justice, the chapter argues that although alternative food systems have often been created in ways that reify white norms and cultural frames, these organizations are steeped in African American cultural frameworks that position them as part of broader anti-racist struggles. Secondly, these food hubs simultaneously reproduce and contest neoliberalism through their collective approaches to the buying and selling of alternative foods. Taken together, these examples demonstrate some of the ways that alternative food projects are affected by and position themselves within the complexities of racial inequalities and neoliberal capitalism.Less
This chapter examines two food hubs in Oakland, CA and Chicago, IL in light of the food justice and neoliberalism critiques explained in the introduction to this volume. With regard to food justice, the chapter argues that although alternative food systems have often been created in ways that reify white norms and cultural frames, these organizations are steeped in African American cultural frameworks that position them as part of broader anti-racist struggles. Secondly, these food hubs simultaneously reproduce and contest neoliberalism through their collective approaches to the buying and selling of alternative foods. Taken together, these examples demonstrate some of the ways that alternative food projects are affected by and position themselves within the complexities of racial inequalities and neoliberal capitalism.
Garrett M. Broad
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287440
- eISBN:
- 9780520962569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287440.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter focuses on Community Services Unlimited's (CSU) efforts for community-based food justice across the United States, exploring particularly the networks and narratives that came to ...
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This chapter focuses on Community Services Unlimited's (CSU) efforts for community-based food justice across the United States, exploring particularly the networks and narratives that came to characterize the organization's communication ecology devoted to community-based organizing. These narratives promote food and justice, as well as articulate how systemic inequities and developing alternative community institutions through networked partnerships produce local food system struggles. The chapter also interrogates what makes food a particularly viable entry point for this type of community development and considers the obstacles faced by CSU and other food justice groups who aimed to incorporate localized activism into an agenda for sustainable community change.Less
This chapter focuses on Community Services Unlimited's (CSU) efforts for community-based food justice across the United States, exploring particularly the networks and narratives that came to characterize the organization's communication ecology devoted to community-based organizing. These narratives promote food and justice, as well as articulate how systemic inequities and developing alternative community institutions through networked partnerships produce local food system struggles. The chapter also interrogates what makes food a particularly viable entry point for this type of community development and considers the obstacles faced by CSU and other food justice groups who aimed to incorporate localized activism into an agenda for sustainable community change.
Garrett Broad
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287440
- eISBN:
- 9780520962569
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
The industrial food system has created a crisis in the United States that is characterized by abundant food for privileged citizens and “food deserts” for the historically marginalized. In response, ...
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The industrial food system has created a crisis in the United States that is characterized by abundant food for privileged citizens and “food deserts” for the historically marginalized. In response, food justice activists based in low-income communities of color have developed community-based solutions, arguing that activities like urban agriculture, nutrition education, and food-related social enterprises can drive systemic social change. Focusing on the work of several food justice groups—including Community Services Unlimited, a South Los Angeles organization founded as the nonprofit arm of the Southern California Black Panther Party—this book explores the possibilities and limitations of the community-based approach, offering a networked examination of the food justice movement in the age of the nonprofit industrial complex.Less
The industrial food system has created a crisis in the United States that is characterized by abundant food for privileged citizens and “food deserts” for the historically marginalized. In response, food justice activists based in low-income communities of color have developed community-based solutions, arguing that activities like urban agriculture, nutrition education, and food-related social enterprises can drive systemic social change. Focusing on the work of several food justice groups—including Community Services Unlimited, a South Los Angeles organization founded as the nonprofit arm of the Southern California Black Panther Party—this book explores the possibilities and limitations of the community-based approach, offering a networked examination of the food justice movement in the age of the nonprofit industrial complex.
Alison Alkon and Julie Guthman (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
New and exciting forms of food activism are emerging as supporters of sustainable agriculture increasingly recognize the need for a broader, more strategic and more politicized food politics that ...
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New and exciting forms of food activism are emerging as supporters of sustainable agriculture increasingly recognize the need for a broader, more strategic and more politicized food politics that engages with questions of social, racial and economic justice. This book highlights examples of campaigns to restrict industrial agriculture’s use of pesticides and other harmful technologies, struggles to improve the pay and conditions of workers throughout the food system and alternative projects that seek to de-emphasize notions of individualism and private ownership. Grounded in over a decade of scholarly critique of food activism, this volume seeks to answer the question of “what next,” inspiring scholars, students and activists toward collective, cooperative and oppositional struggles for change.Less
New and exciting forms of food activism are emerging as supporters of sustainable agriculture increasingly recognize the need for a broader, more strategic and more politicized food politics that engages with questions of social, racial and economic justice. This book highlights examples of campaigns to restrict industrial agriculture’s use of pesticides and other harmful technologies, struggles to improve the pay and conditions of workers throughout the food system and alternative projects that seek to de-emphasize notions of individualism and private ownership. Grounded in over a decade of scholarly critique of food activism, this volume seeks to answer the question of “what next,” inspiring scholars, students and activists toward collective, cooperative and oppositional struggles for change.
Tanya M. Kerssen and Zoe W. Brent
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.003.0012
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
The international peasant confederation La Vía Campesina has long understood land as a key battleground in the struggle against neoliberal globalization and in the construction of food sovereignty. ...
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The international peasant confederation La Vía Campesina has long understood land as a key battleground in the struggle against neoliberal globalization and in the construction of food sovereignty. Food movements in the United States, however, have been slow to embrace land as a key platform of struggle—this despite dramatic and rising levels of land concentration, magnified by recent trends such as financialization and climate change. This chapter argues that the injustices of the capitalist food system are directly related to dispossession and lack of control over land. As such, it suggests that a sharper focus on land among the seemingly disparate groups that comprise the US food movement could form the basis for political convergence and deeper, more long lasting transformation.Less
The international peasant confederation La Vía Campesina has long understood land as a key battleground in the struggle against neoliberal globalization and in the construction of food sovereignty. Food movements in the United States, however, have been slow to embrace land as a key platform of struggle—this despite dramatic and rising levels of land concentration, magnified by recent trends such as financialization and climate change. This chapter argues that the injustices of the capitalist food system are directly related to dispossession and lack of control over land. As such, it suggests that a sharper focus on land among the seemingly disparate groups that comprise the US food movement could form the basis for political convergence and deeper, more long lasting transformation.
Garrett M. Broad
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287440
- eISBN:
- 9780520962569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287440.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter explores the challenges that arise when food justice organizations relied on media storytelling and branding to promote food and justice. It particularly argues that localized ...
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This chapter explores the challenges that arise when food justice organizations relied on media storytelling and branding to promote food and justice. It particularly argues that localized storytelling will not be sufficient to advance an effective movement agenda in the long term. One of the reasons for this claim is that if food justice groups—whose work is legitimately grounded in the needs and interests of local community members—struggle to tell their own stories of food injustice, the media tend to retell the advocates' story in versions that are too often disconnected from the realities of everyday life.Less
This chapter explores the challenges that arise when food justice organizations relied on media storytelling and branding to promote food and justice. It particularly argues that localized storytelling will not be sufficient to advance an effective movement agenda in the long term. One of the reasons for this claim is that if food justice groups—whose work is legitimately grounded in the needs and interests of local community members—struggle to tell their own stories of food injustice, the media tend to retell the advocates' story in versions that are too often disconnected from the realities of everyday life.
Penn Loh and Julian Agyeman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292130
- eISBN:
- 9780520965652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292130.003.0011
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
An emerging food justice movement in Boston aspires to build a food economy rooted in values of justice, sustainability, and democracy. Though not centrally coordinated, this movement encompasses ...
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An emerging food justice movement in Boston aspires to build a food economy rooted in values of justice, sustainability, and democracy. Though not centrally coordinated, this movement encompasses cooperatives, a community land trust, social enterprises, and nonprofits spanning the food system, from land and farms to food processing and organic waste recycling. This chapter uses an urban political ecology lens and a solidarity economy framework to understand and analyze the challenges and opportunities facing this emerging Boston Food Solidarity Economy. The chapter examines how these play out through the case of the legalization of commercial farming in Boston. Finally, we discuss how some of these constraints might be overcome, with an emphasis on organizing and shifting power relations.Less
An emerging food justice movement in Boston aspires to build a food economy rooted in values of justice, sustainability, and democracy. Though not centrally coordinated, this movement encompasses cooperatives, a community land trust, social enterprises, and nonprofits spanning the food system, from land and farms to food processing and organic waste recycling. This chapter uses an urban political ecology lens and a solidarity economy framework to understand and analyze the challenges and opportunities facing this emerging Boston Food Solidarity Economy. The chapter examines how these play out through the case of the legalization of commercial farming in Boston. Finally, we discuss how some of these constraints might be overcome, with an emphasis on organizing and shifting power relations.
Monica M. White
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643694
- eISBN:
- 9781469643717
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643694.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In the late 1960s, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural ...
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In the late 1960s, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural and economic development project, FFC would grow to over 600 acres, offering a means for local sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers to pursue community wellness, self-reliance, and political resistance. Life on the cooperative farm presented an alternative to the second wave of northern migration by African Americans--an opportunity to stay in the South, live off the land, and create a healthy community based upon building an alternative food system as a cooperative and collective effort. Freedom Farmers expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.Less
In the late 1960s, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural and economic development project, FFC would grow to over 600 acres, offering a means for local sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers to pursue community wellness, self-reliance, and political resistance. Life on the cooperative farm presented an alternative to the second wave of northern migration by African Americans--an opportunity to stay in the South, live off the land, and create a healthy community based upon building an alternative food system as a cooperative and collective effort. Freedom Farmers expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.
