ENVI 230
Geographies of Food Justice Spring 2022
Division II Difference, Power, and Equity
This is not the current course catalog

Recent scholarship & reporting clearly show inequalities of race, class, & gender in access to adequate, nutritious, & culturally appropriate food. Observers often call poor, segregated urban areas food deserts, evoking a landscape dominated by fast food & devoid of vegetables. Farmer & food sovereignty activist Leah Penniman instead refers to these places as experiencing food apartheid to emphasize that the inequalities are the result of structural racism. Notably, deserts & apartheid are both spatial metaphors, referring not only to the environments in which people eat, but also the systems of social, political, & economic power that define those places. This course considers the relationship between food, power, & geography by looking at such places. We ask: How does where people eat shape what they eat? What can we learn about structural racism & settler colonialism by looking at the diverse sites of food insecurity? How do people experience a globalized food system in uniquely localized ways? How do struggles over land & labor shape the possibilities for justice in the food system? Does it matter where our food is produced? We begin with an exploration of the concepts of food security, sovereignty, and justice. Subsequent units include a critical reevaluation of the concept of food deserts, drawing on works by scholars who question the term’s usefulness. Next, we consider disruptions to indigenous hunting & fishing practices from settler colonialism-induced climate change & toxic contamination. Finally, we evaluate evidence about whether local food is the solution to the social and environmental problems with our food systems. We will read works by geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, planners, & journalists, among others. Several “lab” sessions throughout the semester introduce participants to data analysis tools used by policymakers and activists working on food security and justice.