Harvesting a participatory movement': Initial participatory action research with the Jewish Farmer Network

Abstract

The Jewish Farmer Network (JFN) is a North American grassroots organization that mobilizes Jewish agricultural wisdom to build a more just and regenerative food system for all. This paper pre­sents methodological findings and reflections from the initial stages of a participatory action research (PAR) collaboration led by the authors and JFN organizers centered on Cultivating Culture, JFN’s inaugural conference in February 2020. For this early iterative phase, we used a PAR approach to guide event ethnography to both facilitate and understand collective movement building and action. This work included pre-conference collabo­rative research design, a participatory reflection and action workshop with roughly 90 participants, eval­uative surveys, short ethnographic interviews, and ongoing post-conference analysis with researchers and movement organizers. While this data was first analyzed and organized for JFN’s use, we present findings to demonstrate the effectiveness of fore­grounding event ethnography within a PAR re­search design at an early stage of movement for­mation, especially how elements of event ethnogra­phy can address some of the limitations of using PAR with a nascent network of farmers. Our work revealed themes in the movement of Jewish farm­ing: the politics of identity in movement building, the tensions around (de)politicization, and the production of Jewish agroecological knowledge. We reflect on the utility of using PAR to frame scholar-activism and propose future inquires for Jewish agrarianism.

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“…This session was organized by the GFASG in collaboration with the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). JAFSCD has long been a supporter of GFASG scholar-activist sessions and of scholar-activist work through publishing reflective essays about similar discussions among scholars and practitioners focused on critical food systems topics (de Witt et al, 2021;Hammelman et al, 2020;Klassen et al, 2022;Levkoe et al, 2016Levkoe et al, , 2018Rice & Goldberg, 2021; also see the JAFSCD special issue on Indigenous Food Sovereignty in North America, volume 9, supplement 2, 2019).…”

Indigenous food systems and food sovereignty: A collaborative conversation from the American Association of Geographers 2022 Annual Meeting

“…This session was organized by the GFASG in collaboration with the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). JAFSCD has long been a supporter of GFASG scholar-activist sessions and of scholar-activist work through publishing reflective essays about similar discussions among scholars and practitioners focused on critical food systems topics (de Witt et al, 2021;Hammelman et al, 2020;Klassen et al, 2022;Levkoe et al, 2016Levkoe et al, , 2018Rice & Goldberg, 2021; also see the JAFSCD special issue on Indigenous Food Sovereignty in North America, volume 9, supplement 2, 2019).…”