Open AccessCommunity context of food justice: reflections on a free local produce program in a New Orleans food desert
Author(s) -
Laura A. McKinney,
Yuki Kato
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aims agriculture and food
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 2471-2086
DOI - 10.3934/agrfood.2017.2.183
Subject(s) - food sovereignty , operationalization , context (archaeology) , conceptualization , food studies , food systems , sociology , right to food , economic justice , social justice , political science , food security , political economy , geography , law , archaeology , philosophy , epistemology , artificial intelligence , computer science , agriculture
Food justice discourse has emerged partly in response to the critique of alternative food networks during the last decade, but its justice conceptualization tends to be too narrowly focused on food-related injustices rather than broader social injustices that shape food access and food sovereignty, a gap we address. Our analysis of a semi-experimental free local food program we administered in a New Orleans food desert demonstrates that several community context factors shape the residents’ access to a local food market in this neighborhood: fragmented social ties, digital and generational divides, perpetual infrastructural failure, and the location of the market within the neighborhood. We argue that food justice discourse needs to incorporate social and cultural community contexts in its operationalization of food access and sovereignty, especially regarding how the latter concept is defined and executed in practice