Abstract
This chapter examines the growth of the food justice movement in Memphis and the Mid-South in light of the problem of food insecurity experienced in this region. Although food insecurity disproportionately affects low-income people of color, the good food movement is primarily led by white middle-class individuals. Drawing on critical race theory and liberation theologies, this paper offers a critique of (race and class) privilege within organizations dedicated to food justice and suggests that humility and solidarity are the key virtues needed for those working in the food justice movement from a position of white privilege and economic security. Humility shapes our self-understanding and ability to listen to others, while solidarity promotes the work of justice as an expression of love. The chapter concludes by arguing for the cultivation of these virtues through religious narratives, communities shaped by a diverse range of experience, and concrete, on-going practices of shared commitment.
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Notes
- 1.
These strands include differing origins and priorities such as alternative local and organic food (Pollan 2006); environmental impact (Kingsolver 2007); labor and distribution (Gottlieb and Joshi 2010); food insecurity and food access (Sack 2001; A Place at the Table 2012); and sovereignty of food and seed (Shiva 2007).
- 2.
United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, “Food Security in the U.S.: Definitions of Food Security.” 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 7 May 2016. See also Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, “Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States: An Assessment of the Measure” (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press 2006).
- 3.
United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, “Food Access Research Atlas,” http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation.aspx#definitions. See also The National Research Council, The Public Health Effects of Food Deserts (Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press 2009); and Mark Winne, Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty (Boston, MA: Beacon Press 2008).
- 4.
For a vivid description of life in one of these neighborhoods, see Chris Peck, “What Obama Didn’t see,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, 30 September 2012; http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/sep/30/chris-peck-what-obama-didnt-see/, accessed 13 May 2016.
- 5.
These studies are summarized by Heather Tirado Gilligan, “Food Deserts Aren’t the Problem: Getting fresh fruits and vegetables into low-income neighborhoods doesn’t make poor people healthier,” Slate (10 Feb. 2014)
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2014/02/food_deserts_and_fresh_food_access_aren_t_the_problem_poverty_not_obesity.2.html, accessed 13 May 2016.
- 6.
See Memphis and Shelby County Food Advisory Council Working Group, Good Food for All: The Need for a Food Advisory Council for Memphis and Shelby County (Memphis, TN 2012).
- 7.
See for instance Norman Wirzba, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011); Fred Bahnson and Norman Wirzba, Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation (Madison, WI: InterVarsity Press 2012); Ellen F. Davis, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible (New York: Cambridge University Press 2009); Gary W. Fick, Food, Farming, and Faith (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press 2008); and Angel F. Mendez-Montoya, The Theology of Food: Eating and the Eucharist (Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons 2012).
- 8.
See, for instance, the work of the Memphis Center for Food and Faith, whose mission is “to promote health of land and community through church-supported agriculture,” and whose vision includes “Community partnerships cultivating a wealth of healthy soils and well-fed souls from urban core to rural edge.”
- 9.
Liberation theology emerged as a mid-twentieth century movement in Latin America and interprets traditional theological concepts (e.g. sin, salvation) from the perspective of the poor and oppressed. Liberation theologians point out that in the biblical narratives, God repeatedly condemns unjust social structures and intervenes on behalf of the poor. In this view, salvation is not restricted to the afterlife, but includes liberation from all forms of oppression—economic, spiritual, political, and social—in this life and this world. Liberation theology was influenced by Marxism and emphasizes the role of praxis as the means by which God’s liberation is accomplished; see, for example, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz p. 90, “Our participation in the act of salvation is what we refer to as liberation. It consists of our work to transform the world.” Liberation theology has influenced all contemporary forms of contextual, social, and political theologies, such as black theology, feminist theology, womanist theology, queer theology, theologies of (dis)ability, etc.
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Holmes, E.A., Peterson, C. (2017). Race, Religion, and Justice: From Privilege to Solidarity in the Mid-South Food Movement. In: Werkheiser, I., Piso, Z. (eds) Food Justice in US and Global Contexts. The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57174-4_10
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