Geography 171 Geographies of Food Justice Essay

Geography 171 Geographies of Food Justice Essay

ESSAY TWO:  GEOGRAPHIES OF FOOD JUSTICE

Geography 171 Geographies of Food Justice Essay is Due Monday, March 29^th 2021 by 9am EDT.

Even though there is more than enough food to feed the human population, there are significant challenges confronting our food production and consumption systems. Thus not only are there are great concerns over its environmental sustainability, but in in both the Global North and South a growing proportion of people are suffering from food-related diseases such as obesity-linked diabetes while at the same time a significant part of humanity is underfed and malnourished. Recently, attention also turned towards the distributional and democratic aspects of our food system through social movements for food justice and food sovereignty.  In this assignment we are asking you to assess the debates around these movements including the challenges confronting them involving geographic scale. In particular, we ask you to address the following three main questions:

• What do the terms food justice (FJ) and food sovereignty (FS) mean and how are they related? Why have Global North and South movements arisen around them?
• Do FJ/FS assist environmental sustainability? If so, how?
• What are the challenges and problems confronting FJ and FS? How is geographic scale relevant? (i.e. think about tensions between and within Global North and South, global –local and urban-rural scales. Do the debates around this issue stress challenges and possible solutions at some scales more than others and why?)

To answer these questions you must read and cite the following sources in your paper:

Alonso-Fradejas, A. Borras, S Jr, Holmes,T Holt-Giménez, E Robbins M  (2015) Food sovereignty: convergence and contradictions, conditions and challenges, Third World Quarterly, 36:3, 431-448

Gonzalez, C (2015)  Food justice: an environmental justice critique of the global food system in (eds) A Shawkat, A Sumudu, C Gonzalez, and J Razzaque, International Environmental Law and the Global South   Cambridge University Press   401-434

Heynen, N., Kurtz, H., Trauger, A (2012) Food Justice, Hunger and the City Geography Compass 6/5  304–311,

Knox and Marston (2016) Chapter 9 Geographies of Food and Agriculture pp. 318-341

(CONTINUED)

You are welcome to use additional sources including my lecture on Food, but you must use and cite the above references. In this assignment you must use an essay style which means you must have an introduction with a statement of purpose and a set of conclusions. Paper length: 1500 words.

To assist you in writing the paper please follow the schedule below:

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Scoring guide for Geography 171 Geographies of Food Justice Essay

Content (total possible 30 points):

• What do food justice (FJ) and food sovereignty (FS) mean? Why have Global North and South movements arisen around them?
• 9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1 

All the readings outline are relevant here and should be cited. The students should go beyond simply ‘defining’ FS and FJ (although they must also do this) and think about the links between them ie Knox and Marston’s distinction of FS ‘defining’ and FJ ‘enabling’ etc –Gonzalez also explores this in detail too.. They should then briefly discuss why global south and north FS/FJ movements have arisen e.g. Heynen et al mention Global North (ie US) urban agriculture movements in response to food deserts etc impacting inner city poor/minority populations. They and the other readings (Gonzalez, Alonso-Fradejas) also stress Global South peasant movements such as Via Campesina which responds to neoliberal trade policies and agribusiness and seeks to protect peasant and small holder farmers’ interests etc. Note its’ network also includes farmers and agricultural workers in the Global North. They should also mention challenges posed by global warming and other environmental problems (Gonzalez; Alonso-Fradejas). Finally, they can also discuss how the growing use of ‘flex-crops’ can lead to biofuel led ‘land grabs’ (Knox and Marston).

• Do FJ/FS assist environmental sustainability? If so, how?
• 9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

Here the students need to address the link between FJ/FS and  environmental sustainability. Gonzalez (2015) is especially strong on this issue regarding these movements in the Global South including those using agro-ecological methods. Knox and Marston also note how local food strategies can reduce overall ‘food miles’ etc and hence green-house gas emissions (this is mentioned by Heynen et al too). They should thus show they understand what agro-ecological methods and who practices them. Here they can also make reference to my Food lecture.

• What are the challenges and problems confronting FJ and FS? How is geographic scale relevant?
• 10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

How well does the paper describe the challenges etc. confronting FS/FJ and the role of  geographic scale? Thus their discussion should include the emphasis on local food systems (Knox and Marston) and urban agriculture (Heynen et al 2012) They can also explore global-local dynamics and how international trading systems and global agribusiness interact with local producers –especially in the global south  problems of ‘scaling up’ local food systems –what should be the role of longer distance (and fair) trade? (Alonso-Fradejas, 2015). Also important is the question of for whom? e.g. social exclusion (Heynen et al, 2012) ie just white middle-class? Also peasants vs landless laborers and women and how slow food and buy local movements can neglect farm worker conditions(Alonso-Fradejas, 2015)

Mechanics (total possible 20 points)

Is the paper free of typos and spelling mistakes?

• 9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

Is the paper free of grammatically incorrect sentences?

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

Finally, the students also must have a formal introduction outlining the purpose and structure (ie road-map) of the paper and a set of conclusions. They don’t need to make a claim only that they intend to review the debates around FS/FJ and try and draw some conclusions around their social and environmental roles. If they do not have an introduction or conclusions they will lose 5 points off their final paper grade (ie from the total possible maximum of 50 points).

Total Points Possible: 50

They can use other sources including my lecture of Food but they must cite them in the text and include them in the sources sited. If any of these are missing they should lose two points off the final paper grade.

Paper length:1500 words

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