Teaching about the Politics of the Food Justice Movement

• In Event: TLC at APSA Technology and Innovative Pedagogy Track Panel 2: Bridging Technology and Critical Engagement

Abstract

This paper will discuss a course that I have taught, in conjunction with a book that is to be published this year on agriculture, food justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Specifically this course and my book teach students about the Pigford (Black farmers) Keepseagle (Native American farmers), Garcia (Latino(a) farmers) and Love (women farmers) settlements with the U.S.D.A. and how the struggles of these groups formed the basis for many areas of the food justice movement today -- such as urban and community farms, vertical farming, CSAs, no till farming, farm-to-table and the growth of farmers markets, that address issues of food apartheid and food insecurity, that especially plague many urban communities, such as the one that our university serves. Additionally, this course is evolving to incorporate the bio-diverse farm on campus that is part of our Center for Urban Ecology, and will also be informed by a faculty development trip on sustainability that I am taking this coming summer to London and Prague. My emphasis in this paper presentation is to discuss how I connected my scholarship and research interests to my teaching and how it influenced our Political Science students to consider the significance of their education.

Author

• Terri R. Jett, Butler University