Going "Beyond Food": Confronting Structures of Injustice in Food Systems Research and Praxis

Abstract

This commentary argues for a need to go "beyond food" in research, writing, and activism on the food system. Noting a tendency within both academic and activist discourse around food to focus on "the food itself," rather than on broader structures of inequality and disinvestment, I argue that more research is needed that focuses explicitly on the ways in which institutional structures and systems (including nonprofits, schools, housing, as well as the food system) can exacerbate broad injustices, including limited food access. I draw on research experience in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, USA, as well as commentary from eminent food systems scholars, to advocate for new research trajectories that utilize food as a lens for contesting broader structures of injustice, rather than advocating for more and better food as an end in itself.

Bringing food desert residents to an alternative food market: a semi-experimental study of impediments to food access

“…Taken together with previous scholarship that points out residents of poor, urban areas are more reliant on social resources (Barnes 2003), we find the neighborhood's fractured social capital particularly troubling. We interpret these dynamics as evidence that food disparity must be understood as entrenched in broader social injustice, which also has implications for the community's role in resolving the social problems, including food access (Passidomo 2013). In this regard, our study supports Johnston and Baker's (2005) assessment that community food security approaches must ''scale up and out'' by addressing broader ecological, social, and policy issues relating to food production and consumption.…”

“…Given these findings, we call for more in-depth, especially qualitative, studies of food insecurity to build on works by scholars such as Alkon and Mares (2012) and Passidomo (2013), to expand on how residents' life-cycle (Whelan et al 2002) or other community context factors, such as social capital, may affect the potential for their involvement in AFNs.…”

“…In introducing a group of low-income, minority households to a local food market in their neighborhood, we designed the study specifically to understand how some of the challenges may compare to or interact with each other. In doing so, the study responds to the call for research on consumer experiences with critical attention to the role of culture and community context in participation in the alternative food system (Goodman and DuPuis 2002;Passidomo 2013). …”

Gardeners, Locavores, Hipsters, and Residents: An Alternative Local Food Market's Potential for "Community" Building

“…For example, studies of CSAs find that without an explicit commitment structure, member participation as volunteers on the farm or in other aspects of the operation tends to be low, especially among those whose enrollment was motivated by subsidized membership and not ideological commitment (Andreatta, Rhyne, & Dery, 2008;Hinrichs & Kremer, 2002). But among strongly committed CSA members, direct contact with the farmers and other members, many of whom are middle-class and highly educated, could foster strong relationships (Cox et al, 2008;Macias, 2008;Ostrom, 2007). Among AFN activities, community gardens are associated with stronger social capital development (Glover, 2004;Nettle, 2014;Saldivar-Tanaka & Krasny, 2004) because gardeners work in the same space and share tools and responsibilities (Macias, 2008).…”

“…Studies have explored which operational structures of AFNs enhance interactions among the participating individuals (Kurtz, 2001;Macias, 2008) and how a sense of community is experienced by community gardeners, CSA members, or farmers market patrons (Glover, 2004;Ostrom, 2007;Saldivar-Tanaka & Krasny, 2004). Other studies have investigated the extent to which community engagement motivates AFN participants to become socially active (Cox, Holloway, Venn, Dowler, Hein, Kneafsey, & Tuomainen, 2008) or how the social impact of AFN activities may extend beyond gardening or distributing food and enable mobilization toward other social issues faced by the community (Armstrong, 2000;Nettle, 2014;Ohmer, Meadowcroft, Freed, & Lewis, 2009).…”