Bristol University Press
2 Fostering Racial Justice via Values-Based Food Procurement in the Good Food Buffalo Coalition
Abstract
This chapter examines the Good Food Buffalo Coalition (GFBC)’s efforts to leverage public institutional food procurement through the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) to foster racial justice in Western New York. Tracing the coalition’s adoption of shared values and a decision-making structure, this chapter examines the coalition’s shift from campaign-bound advocacy to a values-guided approach that centres racial justice and the resulting impacts on the coalition’s potential to build towards transformative change in food systems at multiple scales. Using social movement theory, this chapter explores how the GFBC’s explicit focus on racial justice in food systems guides the coalition through: (1) identifying limitations of the GFPP as a programme situated within neoliberal market mechanisms and one that does not currently explicitly emphasize racial justice; (2) understanding the root causes of racial injustice in food systems; (3) engaging in multiscalar networks to advance the coalition’s advocacy to address these root causes; and (4) understanding the benefits of continuing to advocate for the GFPP despite its limitations. Radical food geographies praxis undergirds this chapter through its focus on transformative food systems change and the interplay between scholarship and activism resulting from the author’s role as a GFBC member.
Abstract
This chapter examines the Good Food Buffalo Coalition (GFBC)’s efforts to leverage public institutional food procurement through the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) to foster racial justice in Western New York. Tracing the coalition’s adoption of shared values and a decision-making structure, this chapter examines the coalition’s shift from campaign-bound advocacy to a values-guided approach that centres racial justice and the resulting impacts on the coalition’s potential to build towards transformative change in food systems at multiple scales. Using social movement theory, this chapter explores how the GFBC’s explicit focus on racial justice in food systems guides the coalition through: (1) identifying limitations of the GFPP as a programme situated within neoliberal market mechanisms and one that does not currently explicitly emphasize racial justice; (2) understanding the root causes of racial injustice in food systems; (3) engaging in multiscalar networks to advance the coalition’s advocacy to address these root causes; and (4) understanding the benefits of continuing to advocate for the GFPP despite its limitations. Radical food geographies praxis undergirds this chapter through its focus on transformative food systems change and the interplay between scholarship and activism resulting from the author’s role as a GFBC member.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Artist Statement vi
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xviii
- Foreword xix
- Introduction 1
- Growing a Radical Food Geographies Praxis 17
-
Scale
- Fostering Racial Justice via Values-Based Food Procurement in the Good Food Buffalo Coalition 37
- With Pots and Pens to Parliament: Understanding and Responding to Crises through a Critical Feminist Lens in Cape Town, South Africa 53
- Radical Food Intersections: Pandemic Shocks, Gentrification Mutation, Essential Labour, and the Evolution of Struggle 71
- Racialized Migrant Labour in Organic Agriculture in Canada: Blind Spots and Barriers to Justice 86
-
Spatial Imaginaries
- Radical and Intersectional Food Systems in the Context of Multiple Crises: The Case of Ollas Comunes in Chile 105
- Radical Legal Geographies of the Food Desert Spatial Imaginary 120
- Consuming Chinatown: Gentrifying through Taste and Design 136
- Developing Black Urban Agrarianism 154
-
Human and More-than-Human Relations
- Beyond ‘Good Intentions’: Fostering Meaningful Indigenous–Settler Relationships to Support Indigenous Food Sovereignty 171
- Reshaping Collective Dreams for a Just Food Future through Research and Activism in Western Avadh, India 187
- Food-Making in the Sisterhoods of Bourj Albarajenah Refugee Camp: Towards Radical Food Geographies of Displacement 206
- The Possibilities of Geopoetics for Growing Radical Food Geographies and Rooting Responsibilities on Indigenous Lands 223
- Radical Food Geographies Un/Settlings: The Weaponization of Food and its Discontents in Occupied Palestine and the Ch’orti’ Maya East 244
- Epilogue 261
- Index 266
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Artist Statement vi
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xviii
- Foreword xix
- Introduction 1
- Growing a Radical Food Geographies Praxis 17
-
Scale
- Fostering Racial Justice via Values-Based Food Procurement in the Good Food Buffalo Coalition 37
- With Pots and Pens to Parliament: Understanding and Responding to Crises through a Critical Feminist Lens in Cape Town, South Africa 53
- Radical Food Intersections: Pandemic Shocks, Gentrification Mutation, Essential Labour, and the Evolution of Struggle 71
- Racialized Migrant Labour in Organic Agriculture in Canada: Blind Spots and Barriers to Justice 86
-
Spatial Imaginaries
- Radical and Intersectional Food Systems in the Context of Multiple Crises: The Case of Ollas Comunes in Chile 105
- Radical Legal Geographies of the Food Desert Spatial Imaginary 120
- Consuming Chinatown: Gentrifying through Taste and Design 136
- Developing Black Urban Agrarianism 154
-
Human and More-than-Human Relations
- Beyond ‘Good Intentions’: Fostering Meaningful Indigenous–Settler Relationships to Support Indigenous Food Sovereignty 171
- Reshaping Collective Dreams for a Just Food Future through Research and Activism in Western Avadh, India 187
- Food-Making in the Sisterhoods of Bourj Albarajenah Refugee Camp: Towards Radical Food Geographies of Displacement 206
- The Possibilities of Geopoetics for Growing Radical Food Geographies and Rooting Responsibilities on Indigenous Lands 223
- Radical Food Geographies Un/Settlings: The Weaponization of Food and its Discontents in Occupied Palestine and the Ch’orti’ Maya East 244
- Epilogue 261
- Index 266
