Radical Food Geographies - (Food and Society) Abridged by Colleen Hammelman & Charles Z Levkoe & Kristin Reynolds (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This collection presents critical and action-oriented approaches to addressing food systems inequities across places, spaces, and scales. With case studies from around the globe, Radical Food Geographies explores interconnections between power structures and the social and ecological dynamics that bring food from the land and water to our plates. Through themes of scale, spatial imaginaries, and human and more-than-human relationships, the authors explore ongoing efforts to co-construct more equitable and sustainable food systems for all.

Advancing a radical food geographies praxis, the book reveals multiple forms of resistance and resurgence, and offers examples of co-creating food systems transformation through scholarship, action, and geography.

Review Quotes

'Radical Food Geographies makes a major contribution to understanding resistance to, and action against the injustices of the food system, showing how theory and action can be articulated through praxis. The volume demonstrates this notably through the engagement of authors from diverse disciplinary, professional and geographical backgrounds working beyond Eurocentric and anglophone epistemological dominance in a process of co-creation and collaboration.' Coline Perrin, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation, l'Environnement (INRAE), UMR Innovation

'Radical Food Geographies offers a powerful framework to analyse the systemic forces shaping food experiences around the world while simultaneously providing inspiration for resisting and transforming these oppressive structures through collaborative scholarship and activism.' Pascale Joassart-Marcelli, San Diego State University

'This book is especially suitable to geographers and critical food scholars as inspiration to engage more deeply with the people they study, and seek out ways that their research

can help to advance food justice and food sovereignty.' Agriculture and Human Values

'The myths about food, unsurprisingly, serve to reinforce the very forces and interests that profit from the desire to address the "crises" conjured by those myths. For example, there is the myth about the urgency to accelerate agricultural production because... global hunger. And the one about hunger befalling the... less fortunate. Although these, and related myths are touched upon in this anthology, the primary reason to read this book is not just to understand, but to take effective action, through addressing root causes of global food system dysfunctions. The authors communicate in different ways, from different sources of authority, but all converge on this insight: economic power, transformed into political power, creates perverse disparities that must be seen and countered by social power. Yes, that is a food topic. Read this timely tome to fathom, and act upon, the abundant global evidence.' Ricardo J. Salvador, Advisor, Union of Concerned Scientists

'This is an extremely impressive collection of works that fulfils its goals of showing how theoretically founded collaboration, analysis, praxis, and action bringing together academic researchers and activists can support resistance to injustices within the food system and the creation of new ones.' The AAG Review of Books

'Radical Food Geographies is a stellar example of what it means to put food at the center of world building. From the initial development of the concept of radical food geographies in 2019 to the publication of this book, Hammelman, Levkoe, Reynolds and all the contributors demonstrate the value of slow, deep, collaborative work. This collection shows us that is the work that leads us toward the just, equitable (food) futures we deserve.' Ashanté M. Reese, University of Texas at Austin

About the Author

Colleen Hammelman is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is also the Director of the Charlotte Action Research Project (CHARP). Her community-engaged research and teaching focus on social justice concerns, particularly among migrant communities, in urban food systems across the Americas. She is author of Growing Greener Cities: A Political Ecology Analysis of Urban Agriculture in the Americas.

Charles Z. Levkoe is the Canada Research Chair in Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems, a Member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada, and Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University. His community engaged research uses a food systems lens to better understand the importance of, and connections between social justice, ecological regeneration, regional economies and active democratic engagement.

Kristin Reynolds is Associate Professor and Chair of Food Studies and Director of the Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab at The New School in New York City, NY. She is also an Associated Researcher at the European School of Political and Economic Sciences in Lille, France, and Affiliated Faculty at Yale Center for Environmental Justice. Her scholarship and activism center on racial and economic equity in the global food system using critical participatory/action research approaches. She is co-author of Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in New York City.