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Food sovereignty, urban food access, and food activism: contemplating the connections through examples from Chicago

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  • Daniel Block
  • Noel Chávez
  • Erika Allen
  • Dinah Ramirez

Abstract

The idea of food sovereignty has its roots primarily in the response of small producers in developing countries to decreasing levels of control over land, production practices, and food access. While the concerns of urban Chicagoans struggling with low food access may seem far from these issues, the authors believe that the ideas associated with food sovereignty will lead to the construction of solutions to what is often called the “food desert” issue that serve and empower communities in ways that less democratic solutions do not. In Chicago and elsewhere, residents and activists often see and experience racial and economic inequalities through the variety of stores and other food access sites available in their community. The connections between food access, respect, and activism are first considered through a set of statements of Chicagoans living in food access poor areas. We will then discuss these connections through the work and philosophy of activists in Chicago centered in food sovereignty and food justice. Particular focus will be placed on Growing Power, an urban food production, distribution, and learning organization working primarily in Milwaukee and Chicago, and Healthy South Chicago, a community coalition focused on health issues in a working class area of the city. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

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  • Daniel Block & Noel Chávez & Erika Allen & Dinah Ramirez, 2012. "Food sovereignty, urban food access, and food activism: contemplating the connections through examples from Chicago," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(2), pages 203-215, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:29:y:2012:i:2:p:203-215
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-011-9336-8
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    1. Charles Levkoe, 2006. "Learning Democracy Through Food Justice Movements," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(1), pages 89-98, March.
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    5. Patricia Allen & Alice Brooke Wilson, 2008. "Agrifood Inequalities: Globalization and localization," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 51(4), pages 534-540, December.
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    Cited by:

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    5. Antoni F. Tulla & Ana Vera, 2019. "Could Social Farming Be a Strategy to Support Food Sovereignty in Europe?," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Jonathan K. London & Bethany B. Cutts & Kirsten Schwarz & Li Schmidt & Mary L. Cadenasso, 2021. "Unearthing the entangled roots of urban agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 205-220, February.
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    8. Alana Siegner & Jennifer Sowerwine & Charisma Acey, 2018. "Does Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security? Examining the Nexus of Food Access and Distribution of Urban Produced Foods in the United States: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-27, August.
    9. Mark Christopher Navin & J. M. Dieterle, 2018. "Cooptation or solidarity: food sovereignty in the developed world," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 319-329, June.
    10. Kathrin Specht & Rosemarie Siebert & Ina Hartmann & Ulf Freisinger & Magdalena Sawicka & Armin Werner & Susanne Thomaier & Dietrich Henckel & Heike Walk & Axel Dierich, 2014. "Urban agriculture of the future: an overview of sustainability aspects of food production in and on buildings," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(1), pages 33-51, March.
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    12. Jasmine Lorenzini, 2019. "Food Activism and Citizens’ Democratic Engagements: What Can We Learn from Market-Based Political Participation?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 131-141.
    13. Manganelli, Alessandra & Moulaert, Frank, 2019. "Scaling out access to land for urban agriculture. Governance hybridities in the Brussels-Capital Region," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 391-400.
    14. Leslie Gray & Laureen Elgert & Antoinette WinklerPrins, 2020. "Theorizing urban agriculture: north–south convergence," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 869-883, September.
    15. Rangarajan, Anu & Riordan, Molly, 2019. "The Promise of Urban Agriculture: National Study of Commercial Farming in Urban Areas," Analysis 320850, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Transportation and Marketing Program.
    16. María D. De-Juan-Vigaray & Ana I. Espinosa Seguí, 2019. "Retailing, Consumers, and Territory: Trends of an Incipient Circular Model," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-15, October.
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