Food Justice Now!
On May 9, Joshua Sbicca '05, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Colorado State University, discussed how the U.S. is a nation full of foodies and food activists, yet their overwhelming concern for what they consume often hinders their engagement with social justice more broadly. He charted a path from food activism to social justice activism that integrates the two. Sbicca called on the food-focused to broaden and deepen their commitment to the struggle against inequalities both within and beyond the food system. Focusing on carceral, labor, and immigration crises, he told the stories of three California-based food movement organizations, showing that when activists use food to confront economic and racial inequality, they can creatively expand how to practice and achieve food justice.
His research focuses on the sociological drivers and outcomes of contentious food politics. He is particularly interested in the tensions and opportunities inherent in trying to create an urban food system change amid the pressures of racial and class inequalities. Underlying these interests is an ongoing engagement with the practice of food justice and what this means for building broad-based social movements. Sbicca authored, Food Justice Now!: Deepening the Roots of Social Struggle (2018, University of Minnesota Press). His research has also appeared in journals such as Agriculture and Human Values, Antipode, Critical Sociology, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Environmental Sociology, Geoforum, Journal of Rural Studies and Social Movement Studies.
Joshua Sbicca, Laura Nichols, Ed Schaefer, Alma Garcia, Tanya Chiykowski-Rathke, Enrique Pumar.