Framing the Food Justice Movement in Detroit

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Framing Processes

Abstract

Detroit is not unlike many inner cities in that they it is considered a food desert (low-income neighborhoods with poor access to fresh and affordable food). Food deserts lead to individuals being denied food security (availability of food and one's access to it). In order to combat food insecurity (inability to be food secure in terms of both physical and economic access), activists and advocates for social justice work toward insisting that communities move toward food justice. Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly. This paper examines the various ways in which the City of Detroit in general and the City’s Urban Farms in particular have framed the issue of food justice in the City and how this has led to effective action. Data was obtained through ethnographic participant observation with the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative and Earthworks Urban Farm in Detroit, interactions with Detroiters involved with the Urban Farm Movement, and content analysis of existing reporting on the Urban Farm Movement in the City of Detroit. Through community engagement, groups seek to understand and decide what needs to be done, in order to lead to effective action. Data analysis suggested that the urban farming movement in Detroit would benefit from a consensus among the various organizations in terms of how each approaches their goals, how they make decisions and the way that people work with one another.

Author

• Michelle Marie Proctor, Madonna University