Hunger and Food Insecurity

Catalog description

In one of the richest, most developed countries in the world, one in six individuals still face hunger every day. This course examines the experience of food insecurity in the United States, the role of poverty in food production and consumption, and the current mitigation strategies and social movements challenging the global food regime. Students learn the differences and connections between concepts of food security, food justice, and food sovereignty. Relationships between food and gender, race, and ethnicity are explored, as well as the geographical and social concepts of food deserts and food choice. This course explores why and how food is central to our political and economic debates, and why we should care about how equitably food is distributed. It develops an understanding and contextualization of the role of food justice activism within the broader narrative of the alternative food movement and offers emerging ideas about how policymakers and planners can take a role in increasing food justice beyond the more mainstream and ultimately contested notions of what is ‘local’ and ‘sustainable.’