Food Mapping as a Critical Classroom Activity for Social Justice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Practicing Social Justice Teaching in the Classroom

Abstract

This paper presents Food Mapping, a consciousness raising activity that social justice educators can use to engage students in critical thinking about food. Food Mapping is a participatory and learner-centered approach to deconstructing and critically analyzing the unequal power relationship inherent in our modern food systems. This exercise is inspired by the Situationist International’s practice of the ‘dérive,’ and draws from the discourses of critical geography, food deserts, and participatory action research. Using the ‘critical food lens,’ this transformational activity helps students grasp the health, economic, ecological, and larger social justice implications of our industrial agriculture and food consumption. The paper demonstrates how Food Mapping synthesizes the social justice, food and environmental movements for high school and college level classrooms.

Authors

• Peggy Shannon-Baker, University of Cincinnati

• Robert Alan Wight, University of Cincinnati

• Jennifer Elaine Killham, University of Cincinnati