Kristin REYNOLDS, The New School, United States
Daniel BLOCK, Chicago State University, United States
Colleen HAMMELMANN, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, United States
Brittany JONES, University of Toledo , United States
Jessica GILBERT, State University of New York, United States
Food justice scholarship and activism have co-evolved and at times been intertwined over past decades. In some instances there are clear distinctions between “scholarly” and “activist” activities. However, individuals, groups, and actions often take on characteristics of both, producing knowledge at multiple sociopolitical scales. Recognizing and building upon these dynamics is important for strengthening food justice work. This is especially salient in an era in which academia, including geography, seeks more public engagement, yet has a complicated history of appropriating and/or dismissing experience-based knowledge, exacerbating uneven power-knowledge dynamics. These topics are of direct relevance to geography and intersect with radical geography traditions through engagement in social and political action and putting socio-spatial justice theory into practice.
Since 2014, a small-but-growing group of individuals interested in the intersections between scholarship, activism, and geography have cultivated a Food Justice Scholar-Activist/Activist-Scholar Community of Practice. This article examines the evolution and praxes of FJSAAS focusing on power-knowledge and radical geographies. Based on analysis of FJSAAS records and recollections of participants since its founding, we discuss challenges encountered, the broader relevance for similarly-positioned communities of practice, and offer recommendations for those engaging in food justice scholarship, activism, and/or radical geography. We conclude that radical geographies; concepts of radical food geographies; and scholar-activist/activist scholar praxis are mutually-reinforcing in recognizing experience-based knowledge as part of envisioning and putting into place a more just food system.
This presentation will introduce the radical food geography framework in France for the first time, and provide opportunity for exchange on these ideas among francophone, hispanophone, and anglophone political geographers.
Mots clés : radical geography|radical food geographies|food justice|scholar-activism|activist-scholarship
A104648KR