Abstract
Community food work is a framework for understanding the interconnections and complexities of food systems issues such as farm sustainability, food access and health equity, environmental resiliency, and social justice. An emerging yet overlooked perspective of community food work is the role of faith-based organizations and practitioners. In this single case study of six faith-based practitioners focused on urban food security in Virginia, we use narrative inquiry to explore how they understand and perform their community food work from a faith-based and social justice context. Our methods included interviewing each practitioner to create stories of their everyday work, researcher-participant analysis of those stories, and a collective reflection session of the group’s narratives. The final narratives not only point toward specific social justice values and practices aimed at addressing race and class inequity in the food system as significant elements of their community food work, but also created new space for practitioner reflection and discovery of the way white privilege and class-based assumptions can be uncovered and challenged in the work itself. In this way, the research describes what community food work looks like through a faith-based lens, while also showing how storytelling and narratives can be used as an approach to create possibility for critical reflection about power and privilege in our everyday practice. We conclude with suggestions for using storytelling and narrative inquiry in similar food system contexts as a strategy for community change.
Highlights
Introduction and Literature ReviewWickedness of Food Insecurity in the U.S.For many, food insecurity is a wicked problem that brings together various explanations as well as approaches to addressing the issue (Hamm, 2009)
We focused on community food work as one illustration of food systems change from a faith-based perspective
We focus on a single case study of six faith-based practitioners addressing urban food security in Virginia
Summary
Introduction and Literature ReviewWickedness of Food Insecurity in the U.S.For many, food insecurity is a wicked problem that brings together various explanations as well as approaches to addressing the issue (Hamm, 2009). Descriptions of what is defined as food security range from household to community perspectives based on policy, grassroots, and academic influences (see Hamm & Bellows, 2003). The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) deems households with members who face times where they do not have access to enough food for an active, healthy life as food insecure (Coleman-Jensen, Nord, & Singh, 2013). Food security work emphasizes food system change with the goal of developing healthy communities and local capacity that addresses community needs (Abi-Nader et al, 2009). According to the USDA, in 2016 food insecurity affected approximately 12.3% of households and has not significantly declined since a 2011 high of 14.9% (Coleman-Jensen, Rabbitt, Gregory, & Singh, 2017)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.