Food (in)security communication: a Journal of Applied Communication Research forum addressing current challenges and future possibilities

Abstract

This forum brings together food, (in)security, and communication. The authors participating in this forum center communication as both process and tool for understanding, mitigating, and making meaning of food (in)security. The nine authors together discuss the role of communication in food (in)security, the central challenges for scholars and practitioners working on food (in)security, and the creative possibilities and impacts influencing the future of food (in)security. The forum produces a call for applied scholars to re-imagine communication frameworks in order to make meaningful differences in their communities.

Envisioning More Equitable and Just Futures: Feminist Organizational Communication in Theory and Praxis

“…In facilitating the forum, we followed the example of other similar recent forums in the field (Schraedley et al, 2020) and initially hosted this conversation using a private Facebook Group, between June 12 and September 21, 2020. The forum article consists of curated responses from the Facebook group discussion, highlighting the major themes of our conversations.…”

Untitled

“…Hence, it is clear that within the internal logic of the theory itself, the securitization concept actually captures the instances of particular strategic communication. Importantly, as the scholars and practitioners of the field of strategic crisis communication move to harness the theory of securitization (Schraedley et al, 2020), it should be reexamined and revised to fulfill the currently upheld normative commitments of the field.…”

“…The criticism of the securitized pandemic-related narratives is not surprising granted that a large portion of Copenhagen-school (Buzan et al, 1998) inspired works on securitization tends to point out how the securitized framing weakens democratic discourses and exchanges of ideas, so 'desecuritization' has been understood as 'normatively positive' (Austin & Beaulieu-Brossard, 2017). However, recent calls within the field of crisis communication have encouraged a different directionone that would attempt to harness securitization for strategic persuasive purposes (Schraedley et al, 2020). While the adaptation of securitization within the strategic communication field is arguably a worthwhile endeavor, as this article further explains, it still must be done while paying attention to several ethics-related considerations.…”

Pivoting in the Time of COVID-19: An in-Depth Case Study at the Nexus of Food Insecurity, Resilience, System Re-Organizing, and Caring for the Community

“…This essay takes a case study approach to interrogate how one community organization used communication to adapt quickly to crisis and mobilize resources to address multiple scales and types of resilience (Gordon and Hunt, 2019a). The communication and organizing successes by Crystal Bridges in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies resistance to acquiesce to the intersectional inequities already existent within United States society, amplified since early 2020, and particularly the conventional food system (Schraedley et al, 2020). This case study illuminates how communication processes can support adaptive crisis behavior, organizational restructuring, building resilience, and creatively advancing food security (Gladwell, 2000).…”