Food pedagogy for transformative social change

Chelsea Klinke,Gertrude Korkor Samar

doi:10.15353/cfs-rcea.v8i3.485

Abstract

The contemporary global agrarian regime has altered the patterns of food production, circulation, and consumption. Its efforts towards food security vis-á-vis capitalist modes of mechanized cultivation have produced large-scale climatic and socioeconomic ramifications, including the dispossession of small-scale farmers from their lands and positions in market value-chains. In an effort to improve the dynamics of contemporary agro-food systems, food practitioners and scholars are engaging in critical analyses of land-grabbing, the feminization of agriculture, extractive-led development, and more. However, we argue that there is a gap between Food Studies scholarship and community-based transformative engagement. To support social justice frameworks, our paper calls for an academic paradigm shift wherein learner-centered experiential classrooms bridge academic-public divides and enhance student learning. Through a case-study of urban farming in Calgary, we also explore topics in place-based learning and participatory approaches that acknowledge and integrate Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, being, and connecting. Our paper provides strategies for supporting local food systems through activist scholarship, capacity building of leadership and technical skills in advanced urban farming, and intercultural relationship building. We conclude by evaluating the success of our approach, presenting potential benefits and challenges, and providing recommendations for best practices in food scholarship to support transformative change.

Highlights

Until recently, discourse in Food Studies pedagogy—the various ways that instructors, activists, and communities are teaching, learning, and intervening in their food processes (Meek & Tarlau, 2016)—has largely highlighted the role and impact of mechanized industrial agriculture (Frison, 2016; Kremen et al, 2012)
Through a case study approach, we presented the benefits of activist food pedagogy within the context of a University of Calgary Transformative Talent Internship with the not-for-profit farm, Grow Calgary
Harnessing our foundations in course-based Food Studies theory and literature, we engaged in sustainable farming during the COVID-19 pandemic to enhance our leadership and technical capacities in advanced urban food production

Summary

Introduction

Discourse in Food Studies pedagogy—the various ways that instructors, activists, and communities are teaching, learning, and intervening in their food processes (Meek & Tarlau, 2016)—has largely highlighted the role and impact of mechanized industrial agriculture (Frison, 2016; Kremen et al, 2012). This tendency has encompassed both the social and ecological ramifications of an agrarian regime that emphasizes market privatization, distribution corporatization, and extractive-led development platforms (Bernstein, 2009; Horrigan et al, 2002; IRP, 2019). Over the course of a four-month University of Calgary Transformative Talent Internship with a not-for-profit peri-urban farm, Grow Calgary, we asked the questions: How can the incorporation of community-driven food movements in academic frameworks cultivate awareness and action surrounding more socially and ecologically-just agrarian models? How can this shift support student learning and build resilient communities?

Objectives

Conclusion