Land, Labor, and Race
Africans were brought to the US not only for their labor, but for their valuable agricultural knowledge and skills. African Americans have provided the foundation of our agricultural system through labor, cultural knowledge, and emotional and psychological sacrifice. A significant part of this foundation is forgotten, silenced, and ignored. This course aims to explore the legacy and contributions of Black farmers to the wealth, agricultural knowledge, and culture of the US as a whole and to African American communities in particular. Along side we will unravel the interconnected formation of racism, capitalism, and the industrial food system and how, in response, African Americans have created alternative food systems and agrarian philosophies. This course will look at both historic and contemporary practices and include field trips to local farms.
Food Sovereignty
Food sovereignty is a term often used to refer to the right and freedom of people to grow, maintain, and consume healthy and diverse food. The term usually encompasses political, economic and social rights of people to have access to affordable and healthy food, to grow food in a healthy and sustainable manner, and to determine the best methods and products for their own communities. This course examines what food sovereignty means, how is it connected to sustainability, and what are the components involved in providing and promoting food sovereignty. To answer these questions, we will first explore the current global agricultural system and the effects it has on farmers, their families and their communities. We will look at current dominant trends in the agricultural system such as the Green Revolution, food security efforts, agricultural trade, and food aid and relief. This course will explore how international and global agricultural programs, often initiated by “northern” or “developed” countries affect farmers in the global south. We will then explore farmer movements, resistance, and farmer organizations that are responding to, reforming, and/or recreating the agricultural system. This course is designed to help students understand the complex network of policies, economies, and social and cultural practices that shape food systems.
Black Geographies and the Circulation of Food
This course will explore the interconnected formation of race and space through the lens of food production, distribution, and consumption. The first part of the course will focus on the spatial flows of global food production and the role of land rights, beginning with the trans-Atlantic slave trade to current forms of contract farming and land grabbing. These global trends will be juxtaposed with the formation of specific localities, such as the plantation, freedom farms, chicken factories, and farm cooperatives, unraveling how each is simultaneously a site of production of the racist capitalist system and the site of resistance and cultural survival. The second section will look at the intersection of racial formation and food distribution with a particular focus on food deserts and food swamps. This section will outline the institutional forces that shape distribution inequality while also exploring the often overlooked forms of community wealth within food deserts. We will also assess the work of community gardens, their efforts (or failures) to engage community participation, and the assumptions of whiteness sometimes embedded within food activism. Students will work with and hear directly from local food organizers. The final section of this course will explore the cultural influence of tastes and food consumption. This section will trace the formation and transformation of food preferences over time and examine how consumption is used to define cultural, racial, and class norms. We will look at how food preferences and tastes demarcate places such as the home, a locale, or a region.
Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture
Food production is a complex and controversial process. Consumers are faced with an array of choices: organic, fair trade, local, non-GMO, cage-free, grass-fed, etc. But the consequences and effects of these different options are not always clear. Additionally, hunger and malnutrition continue to plague an estimated 795 million people while simultaneously enough food is produced globally to adequately feed all 7.3 billion people. It is not simply the production of food that is of concern, but the political, economic, and social systems that effect how food is produced and how it is distributed. This course delves into these issues through a systems approach to understanding the production of food. Ultimately students will be challenged to question what sort of food system will be suitable for our growing population in the face of rising environmental degradation, climate change, and social justice concerns.