Hegemony, Counter-Hegemony and Food Systems Literacy: Transforming the Global Industrial Food System

Abstract

National and global food systems are beset by intersecting and mutually reinforcing crises of public and ecological health. The locus of these crises resides primarily in the excessive concentration of corporate power and control. Deploying a Gramscian theory of politics as a contribution to the ongoing development of a critical food-based environmental education pedagogy, this article argues that transformative change requires the mass exercise of food citizenship directed towards the realisation of a socially just and ecologically sustainable food system, as contemplated by the principles of food sovereignty. The article argues further that food citizenship in turn presupposes levels of engagement and motivation that will only come from processes of transformative learning and critical consciousness-raising through an emerging form of environmental education: critical food systems literacy.

Agrifood systems literacy: Insights from two high schools’ programs in Ontario

“…Neoliberal advocates count on "the market as the final arbiter of efficient economic policy...walling off powerful economic actors and industrial forces from popular accountability and local responsibility" (Andrée et al, 2014, p. 11). Meanwhile, food sovereignty advocates call for a reorganizing of food production, distribution, and consumption patterns that contests the common understanding that large-scale agriculture is better and more efficient than small-scale farming (Massicotte, 2014;Meek & Tarlau, 2016;Rose & Lourival, 2019). In Canada, food sovereignty activists, including members of the National Farmers Union, emphasize the productive and reproductive roles of food producers who contribute and seek innovative methods to maintain and/or promote agroecological practices.…”

“…Numerous studies have demonstrated that agriculture and agrifood systems 1 are key contributors to environmental protection or degradation and anthropogenic climate change (Gliessman, 2018;Anderson et al, 2021). This is especially evident since the late 1980s, with the globalizing corporate food regime that spread from Europe and the United States to most parts of the world (Andrée et al, 2014;Friedman & McMichael, 1989;Rose & Lourival, 2019). This corporate regime has the set of norms and rules that govern today's dominant agrifood system, which is based on the expansion of large-scale, capital, and energy intensive agricultural production (i.e., fertilizers, pesticides, water).…”

“…In Canada and globally, a growing number of citizens and social movements are questioning the consequences of today's prevailing agrifood system, which are especially alarming considering the crucial role of food for social reproduction and for the wellness of human and non-human beings. Food literacy (FL) is therefore more essential now than ever to equip citizens to critically assess the systemic barriers to actualization of personal, community, and ecological health at micro- (individual, household, community) and macro-levels (global food governance, environmental and cultural change, national and international trade, and health policies) (Rose & Lourival, 2019;Weiler et al, 2014Weiler et al, , p. 1082Sumner, 2013). With increased awareness, people are calling for socio-ecological alternatives by "voting with their dollars" (Bloomfield, 2014), or are engaging in collective action, advocating for institutional and policy changes, and food sovereignty (Blay-Palmer et al, 2015).…”

Measuring Food Literacy: Progressing the Development of an International Food Literacy Survey Using a Content Validity Study

“…Food literacy is an emerging term which attempts to more comprehensively describe the knowledge, skills and behaviours used to meet food needs, inclusive of these elements, in an effort to better reflect contemporary food and eating [21]. The widespread use of this term has spanned continents, and reflects a diverse range of food related outcomes from chronic disease risk, to lifeskills, ecological sustainability and economic grow [22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Problematising ‘Transformative’ Environmental Education in a Climate Crisis

“…2020Cf. Bowers, 2008; Martusewicz, 2014; Iared, Tullio, Payne and de Oliveira (2015); Valenti, de Oliveira and Logarezzi (2017); Edwards, Hill and Boxley (2018), Wildemeersch (2018), Rose and Lourival (2019), Mann (2019); cf. Huckle's Critical School Geography , https://john.huckle.org.uk/contents/.…”