Student: Julia Benford
Graduation date: May 2017
Type: Concentration (single major)
Date approved: November 2014
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Summary
I propose to use my time within the ENVS program to concentrate on the relationship between food and community in urban environments, specifically the urban environments of highly developed countries in the Global North. According to one source, “in the cities of the Global North, peoples’ engagement with food production has been marginalized and limited” (Tornaghi 2014, 551); however, the nature of daily life in highly developed, non-agrarian societies necessitates some degree of large-scale (and therefore distant) food production. The current neoliberal food system “advocates expanding global markets and increasing output through corporate-led technological innovation, and pushing peasant farmers out of the way to make room for more efficient ‘entrepreneurial’ farmers” (Gimenez and Shattuck 2011, 116). Within the Global North, the primary opposition to the neoliberal system comes from the so-called Progressive trend, which focuses on “local foodsheds, family farming, and ‘good, clean, and fair food’ with a strong representation from urban agriculture and direct rural-urban linkages” (Gimenez and Shattuck 2011, 125). However, the food movements of the Progressive trend are generally situated within a local context, resulting in differing implementation methods and results between cities. Larger initiatives such as the organic and fair trade movements exist within the neoliberal system, and participation within these movements is by nature limited by one’s ability to afford these types of foods, as well as physically access stores that carry them. Indeed, many metropolitan areas in the United States have ‘food deserts, or “low-income areas…that have limited access to full-service supermarkets or grocery stores” (Jiao et. al 2012, 32). Both the current neoliberal system and the Progressive trend seem to have limitations that keep them from being completely egalitarian.
Keeping these realities of the current food system in mind, I would like to explore the ways in which urban communities understand and interact with their food, and in turn the ways in which food systems and movements can affect communities.
In preindustrial times, communities structured themselves around agriculture out of necessity; however, this element of survival is unlikely to have a presence in present-day agriculture-centric communities (if indeed these exist) in the highly developed cities of the Global North. Indeed, the very idea of community evolves with changes in societal structure, meaning that traditional notions of community may no longer be realities. I plan to research the structure of present-day urban communities, the extent (if any) to which food and agriculture play a role in the structuring of these communities, and the ways in which people in different communities conceptualize food. By doing so, I hope to draw connections between these localized ideas of food and larger food systems, trends, and movements. I also hope to explore innovative ways of empowering people in marginalized neighborhoods, and neighborhoods that lack a strong sense of community, that go farther in terms of situated community engagement than current urban agriculture programs (Draus, Roddie and McDuffie 2014, 2536).
Situating my concentration within urban environments will allow me a more diverse pool of communities in which to conduct my studies. In addition, the focus on urban agriculture within the Progressive trend and the tendency of cities to serve as economic and social hubs make urban areas a natural situated context for studying the effects of large-scale food systems and movements. An added focus on the highly developed countries of the Global North would create commonalities between the areas I study via relatively similar economic systems, political systems, and development history; food-based movements also differ between the Global North and the Global South, with those in the North focusing more heavily on change at the neighborhood, city, and regional levels. Finally, I hope to primarily study urban environments with some type of social polarization, such as Portland’s gentrified areas and Berlin’s immigrant neighborhoods.
References
Alkon, Alison Hope, and Teresa Marie Mares. 2012. “Food Sovereignty in US Food Movements: Radical Visions and Neoliberal Constraints.” Agriculture and Human Values 29 (3): 347–59. doi:10.1007/s10460-012-9356-z.
Draus, Paul Joseph, Juliette Roddy, and Anthony McDuffie. 2014. “‘We Don’t Have No Neighbourhood’: Advanced Marginality and Urban Agriculture in Detroit.” Urban Studies 51 (12): 2523–38. doi:10.1177/0042098013506044.
Holt Giménez, Eric, and Annie Shattuck. 2011. “Food Crises, Food Regimes and Food Movements: Rumblings of Reform or Tides of Transformation?” Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (1): 109–44. doi:10.1080/03066150.2010.538578.
Jiao, Junfeng, Anne V. Moudon, Jared Ulmer, Philip M. Hurvitz, and Adam Drewnowski. 2012. “How to Identify Food Deserts: Measuring Physical and Economic Access to Supermarkets in King County, Washington.” American Journal of Public Health 102 (10): e32–e39. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300675.
Shannon, Jerry. 2014. “Food Deserts: Governing Obesity in the Neoliberal City.” Progress in Human Geography 38 (2): 248–66. doi:10.1177/0309132513484378.
Tornaghi, Chiara. 2014. “Critical Geography of Urban Agriculture.” Progress in Human Geography 38 (4): 551–67. doi:10.1177/0309132513512542.
Questions
- Descriptive: What quantity of organic/”local”/non-GMO food does a given urban population consume? What percentage of a given urban population follows a restricted diet for reasons other than food sensitivity? Where do people get their food? What are the most common food-centric debates in the urban areas of the Global North?
- Explanatory: What factors affect people’s perceptions of different types of food? What factors affect people’s food purchasing decisions? What value do people place on environmental and social responsibility when choosing food?
- Evaluative: How does the presence of different food movements affect production and consumption within a given city? How do people perceive food-based movements? To what extent do food-based movements affect social dynamics?
- Instrumental: What is the future of food-based movements in the Global North? To what extent can social pressures change the current food system?
Concentration courses
- HIST 388 (What's for Dinner, 4 credits), spring 2016. Provides a historical basis for the development of modern American dietary patterns.
- SOAN 365 (Green Capitalism, 4 credits), fall 2016. Explores the relationship between environmentalism and capitalism in the Global North.
- ENVS 460 (Topics in Environmental Law and Policy, 4 credits), fall 2016. Explains the basics of American environmental law, including food and agriculture-related legislation.
- SOAN 249 (Political Economy of Food, 4 credits), fall 2016. Discusses food production and distribution as well as the creation of food cultures.
Arts and humanities courses
- PHIL 215 (Philosophy and the Environment, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- HIST 121 (Modern European History, 4 credits). Covers European industrial development and the impacts of colonialism on the growth of European states.