Doctoral Dissertation Research: Food Sovereignty and Social Justice in Post-Katrina New Orleans

这项博士论文研究将考察被边缘化的社区如何看待和维护他们在新奥尔良市获得足够食物的权利。在包括新奥尔良在内的美国城市，在获得营养食品方面的种族和经济差距已经成为人们关注的突出问题，尤其是在卡特里娜飓风的破坏暴露了该市普遍存在的种族和阶级不平等之后。尽管这些不平等得到了更多的关注，但新奥尔良的低收入居民仍然难以获得足够的新鲜食物，种族主义的影响也是显而易见的。关注粮食获取差距的运动与那些有兴趣致力于建立一个环境可持续和透明的粮食系统的运动结合在一起，由此产生了一场积极的、民主控制的“粮食主权”运动。这个项目将考察自卡特里娜飓风以来新奥尔良市的粮食主权激进主义，以及社区成员和积极分子如何看待和理解它。这项研究的理论基础是城市地理学、关键种族研究和农业食品研究的结合，该项目将研究食品激进主义如何在城市背景下构建和竞争种族。本项目使用的方法包括访谈、参与者观察和焦点小组。这项研究将把新奥尔良的食品主权激进主义置于更广泛的国家背景下，以更好地理解食品体系中的正义和种族平等的意识形态是如何在新奥尔良的地方层面上被翻译、解释和实施的。该项目将在城市空间、种族和社会经济差异以及食品体系的理论之间建立关键的联系。此外，这项研究将增加越来越多的关于卡特里娜飓风后新奥尔良的研究，新奥尔良的研究结果将为洞察美国其他城市对种族敏感的食品激进主义的潜力提供洞察。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究事业。

This doctoral dissertation research will examine how marginalized communities perceive and assert their rights over access to adequate food in the city of New Orleans. Racial and economic disparities in access to nutritious food have become prominent concerns in U.S. cities, including New Orleans, especially after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina exposed the city's pervasive racial and class inequalities. Despite greater attention to these inequalities, low-income residents of New Orleans continue to struggle to obtain sufficient fresh food, and the impacts of racism are pronounced. Movements that are concerned about disparities in access to food have combined with those interested in working toward a food system that is environmentally sustainable and transparent, and from this has emerged a "food sovereignty" movement that is activist and democratically controlled. This project will examine food sovereignty activism in the city of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina and how it is perceived and understood by both community members and activists. The theoretical basis of this research is a combination of urban geography, critical race studies, and agro-food studies and the project will examine how food activism both constructs and contests race in an urban context. The methods used in this project include interviews, participant observation, and focus groups. The research will situate food sovereignty activism in New Orleans within a broader national context to better understand how ideologies of justice and racial equality within the food system are translated, interpreted, and enacted at the local level within New Orleans.This project will draw crucial linkages between theories of urban space, racial and socioeconomic disparities, and the food system. Additionally, this study will add to the growing body of research on post-Katrina New Orleans Findings from the research in New Orleans will offer insight into the potential for racially-sensitive food activism in other U.S. cities. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.