Environmental for Food Justice

Moderator’s Note: This is the third of a selection of student research notes and essays prepared for a political ecology seminar I taught during the just completed fall quarter (Sept-Dec.). The course involved serious reading loads and weekly writings aimed at the development of analytical and critical skills. All students prepared eight (8) critical reading summaries. They also produced the essays and other contributions presented here which are synthesized from quarter-long topical research projects and presented in the form of a series of thematic posts related to the field of political ecology. Some of the posts are autobiographical and draw from personal life histories and experiences but these are not empty exercises in navel gazing. Most of these students are part of the so-called Millennial Generation and they seem to me more like critical realists than alienated narcissists, and not because it is an intellectual fad but as a matter of historical and structural circumstances. ...

Chalchiuhtotolin (trickster god). Codex Telleriano-Remensis. Christmas dinner CUISINE AS CULTURE OR ACT OF VIOLENCE? Devon G. Peña | Shoreline, WA | December 25, 2013 Imagine food ends. I don’t mean the end of food in general, but your food; ends.  The food of your people ends because the crops are gone, replaced by plantations and then suburbs; the soil is washed and worn; the land has been robbed of all that makes it whole; the seeds were burned to waste and lost under the dusty rubble of the state of siege; and the earth split open and filled with shattered bone and the spilled blood of natives.   Imagine then the end of a culture and its places, the home lands now mute of origin myths. Imagine this happened not per chance from a recurring natural disaster that leads to famine. No. Imagine this was visited upon us by virtue of conquest, invasion, war, and concerted genocide.   Imagine then having to find a long, slow way back to yourself through your food. Relocatin...

Moderator’s Note: As has become customary, I am posting a selection of student research notes and essays prepared for a political ecology seminar I teach during fall quarter at the University of Washington. Taught as an advanced reading and discussion seminar, the course involves heavy reading loads and weekly writing aimed at development of analytical and critical skills. All of the students prepared a total of eight (8) critical reading summaries. They also produced the essays presented here which are synthesized from quarter-long topical research projects and presented in the form of a series of 2000-word posts. Some of these posts are autobiographical in nature and draw from personal life histories and experiences – but they are not self-indulgent empty exercises in navel gazing. The students of the so-called Millennial Generation are critical realists not because it might be an intellectual fad but as a matter of historical and structural circumstances. This is a group of seriou...