In this most unusual time, four academic organizations engaged in food studies are hosting a virtual conference centered on the theme of Food Justice. The title, Just Food: because it is never just food, highlights how food is ensconced in systems of exclusion, oppression, and power. We seek presentations* that reveal cultural and historical entanglements of food with social justice. We encourage scholars to examine the production, distribution, and consumption of food while keeping in mind power differentials in local and global world systems. We invite submissions that reveal and/or seek to challenge the systemic injustices of the industrial and alternative food systems that marginalize the food histories, practices, and experiences of diverse communities including Indigenous, Black, and people of color. We also seek papers that highlight the ways people use food for pleasure and autonomy. The conference hopes to make connections between diverse perspectives, to center historically marginalized voices, and to work towards building a greater understanding of how to achieve food justice on Turtle Island (North America) and globally.
Broad areas of inquiry may include:
- Food socialization practices in public, private, and institutional settings
- Culinary appropriation
- The interconnectedness between the Global South and Global North
- Agroecology and food sovereignty
- Global and local food movements and the quest for justice and sustainability
- The role of racism, colonialism, and imperialism in cuisines of the world
- Indigenous food sovereignty and Black food sovereignty
- Repair, resistance, and reparations in food systems
- Health implications of unequal access to food
- Migration, exile, and food access/security
- The exploitation of food workers within Capitalism
- Eating and ethics
- Agriculture, economics, labor
- Lived experiences of climate catastrophe
- Food systems governance
- Pedagogy of food justice in and out of the classroom
- Policy and advocacy
- Intersectionality (race, class, gender, ableism, creed, etc.)
- Media representation of cuisines and food justice
*Presentation may include 20-minute papers, complete session/panel, roundtables, 7-minute lightning talk, workshop, or other creative events. Please submit a maximum of two submissions per person.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words are due on February 22nd, 2021.
The virtual conference will take place from June 9-15, 2021 and the schedule will accommodate a global presence.
Submit English Abstracts Here
Version française
Versión en español
Note: We invite you to submit in English, French, or Spanish. Please note that the conference will be hosted primarily in English. All participants are encouraged to pre-record their talks and include subtitles in a second language. The keynote address will be available with closed captions in English, French, and Spanish.