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A New Face in the Neighborhood: Exploring the Race and Positionality of Leaders in the Alternative Food Movement
(2013) Colonnese, Taryn; Jones-Walker, Cheryl; Nadkarni, Maya
In my Educational Studies and Sociology/Anthropology thesis, I investigate the ways in which the race and positionality ofleaders and advocates in the alternative food movement influences how the movement is conceptualized and run. I do so specifically through exploring urban community gardening efforts, which exist largely in African American and Latino communities and are run predominately by white women. I argue that although current alternative food practices in community gardens address issues of food insecurity, they often do so in a way that reproduces current systems of dependency, despite these programs goals of engaging and empowering residents of all ages. The race and positionality of community garden leaders and educators are often unacknowledged factors in alternative food practices, but I assert that they are central to understanding why community gardening programs do not yet resonate as strongly in their communities as organizations intend them to. I also explore a variety of factors that can contribute to more effectively empowering community residents as collaborators in alternative food practices.