Scholar-activist perspectives on radical food geography: collaborating through food justice and food sovereignty praxis

Abstract

Radical geography research, teaching, and action have increasingly focused on food systems, examining the scalar, sociopolitical, and ecological dynamics of food production and harvesting, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste. While academics have contributed significantly to these debates, the success and progress of this scholarship cannot be separated from the work of practitioners and activists involved in food justice and food sovereignty movements. This paper draws together the voices of scholars and activists to explore how collaborations can productively build the evolving field of radical food geography and contribute to more equitable and sustainable food systems for all. These perspectives provide important insight but also push the boundaries of what is typically considered scholarship and the potential for impacts at the levels of theory and practice. Reflecting on the intersecting fields of radical geography and food studies scholarship and the contributions from the scholar-activists, the authors share a collective analysis through a discussion of the following three emerging themes of radical food geography: (1) a focus on historical and structural forces along with flows of power; (2) the importance of space and place in work on food justice and food sovereignty; and (3) a call to action for scholars to engage more deeply with radical food systems change within their research and teaching process but also in response to it.