Food Studies Commons^™

Transitioning To Legalization Of Cannabis In Washington State: Regulations’ Impacts On Commodification, Metabolism, & Labor Practices, Rob Loewen

All Master's Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographically grounded analysis of how existing regulations shape the legal recreational cannabis industry in Washington State. I examine the processes involved from seed to sale, including cultivation, processing, quality-control testing, and distribution of recreational cannabis. The goal of this research is to provide a greater understanding of how existing regulations were formed and how they shape social relations within the industry. This study seeks to answer the question: “How are the processes of production within the recreational cannabis industry, along with its labor force and its consumers, impacted by societal perceptions about cannabis, encapsulated within state …

Mapping The Vcu Campus Food Environment, Heather N. King, John C. Jones, Dan J. Albrecht-Mallinger

Graduate Research Posters

Preliminary research from a related VCU faculty team indicated that roughly ⅓ of all VCU students experience some level of food insecurity. Inventions to remedy this dire situation will require a more complete picture of the campus food environment. This project documented aspects of that environment. Our research team surveyed vending machines within Monroe Park buildings and facilities, along with nearby corner stores that were easily accessible to the university. Our team employed two instruments from the nationally recognized Nutritional Environment Measure Survey (NEMS), a toolkit created by Penn State University, to determine the nutritional quality of the campus food …

Enhancing Harvester Safety And Traditional Food Access Through Participatory Mapping With The Ka’A’Gee Tu First Nation Of Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Neomi Jayaratne

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern Canada has struggled with various systemic challenges based on Eurocentric ideologies, policies, and practices. A major challenge Indigenous communities face North of the 60^th parallel is their food security and sovereignty. Inuit, First Nation and Métis populations across the North experience 5 to 6 times higher levels of food insecurity compared to the National average (Food Secure Canada, 2020). These communities face concentrated levels of food system issues, which connect to other factors, such as, health and wellness, the supply chain of market foods, governance, a shift away from traditional foods, and the impacts of climate change. Climate …

Human Centeredness: The Foundation For Leadership-As-Practice In Complex Local/Regional Food Networks, Maryann Martinez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Our local and regional food systems are predominately modeled on a failed capitalist market-based economy. In the absence of corporate accountability, and/or support on the federal policy level, local and regional leadership and self-organized networks are critical to the scaling across and evolution of a moral and equitable food system. Networked food systems leaders are developing the capacity to solve wicked problems, and spark change. Understanding the values and practices of local food systems leadership that initiate, influence, and support activities is essential to understanding how to foster conditions for local and regional food network growth. My dissertation research is …

A Crisis Of Kelp, Rachel L. Sherman

Capstones

Along with insects and lab-grown meat, for years seaweed has been lauded as a sustainable “food of the future” by the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. As the world increasingly turns to alternative foods in pursuit of a healthier Earth, seaweed has all the makings of an ecological savior. It’s plentiful — seaweeds and ocean algae make up roughly nine tenths of all the plant life on Earth — it’s cheap to harvest and get to market, packed with nutrition, and keeps oceans clean, absorbing more carbon dioxide and releasing more oxygen than the world’s rainforests.

But outside of Japanese …

"En Afrique, On N'Oublie Jamais": An Autoethnographic Exploration Of A Tck's Return "Home", Justin B. Hopkins

The Qualitative Report

Many Third Culture Kids (TCKs) struggle to answer the commonly-asked question: Where are you from? In this autoethnographic essay, a continuation of my earlier exploration of TCK experience (Hopkins, 2015), I confront my concept of home in reference to psychological research by Jerry Burger (2011), exploring the phenomenon of adults returning “home,” to place(s) that were important in their early lives. Like Burger’s subjects, I describe my experience of returning to visit, after over two decades away, the remote village in Senegal where I spent many of my childhood years. Following Tessa Muncey’s (2010) methodological lead, I structure my account …

Food System Resilience In Nigeria: Farmers Perspective, Azariah Lawal

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Disturbances are inherent in every socio-ecological system (SES). However, the spate and scope of upheavals in contemporary SES has increased dramatically in recent years. Agricultural systems are perhaps the most impacted when disasters occur because different aspects of agricultural production are directly affected. The burgeoning farmers-Fulani herdsmen conflict in West Africa is a manifestation of these challenges. When faced with events like these, contemporary food systems are faced with two options: collapse or transform. It is essential to have resilient agricultural systems because these systems lie at the nexus of resolving emerging global issues.

Nigeria is an important country in …

How The Covid-19 Pandemic Is Challenging Consumption, Marine Cambefort

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

COVID-19 has led consumers to question their consumption patterns. Although some management research has already highlighted consumption trends resulting from the virus outbreak, very few studies explore how the current pandemic challenges consumption. Three trends are identified: the downsizing of consumption, emergence of anti-globalization sentiments, and negative consumer reactions to the misconduct of brands/companies. First, the lockdown was an opportunity for people to test a simpler lifestyle by reducing their level of consumption, having realized that over-consumption does not make them happy and questioned its negative impact on the environment. Second, the pandemic may reinforce anti-globalization ideas, leading consumers to …

Geology, Soils And Climate Of The Margaret River Wine Region, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

All other publications

This report is an extract from the broader description and analysis of the Geology, soils and climate of Western Australia's wine regions. It expands on the brief descriptions in the second edition of 'Viticulture' (Coombe & Dry 2004) concerning the soils and landscapes of Western Australia’s main wine growing regions. We have tailored this report extract to the specific needs of the Margaret River wine region. It contains local soil names and soil-landscape zones and systems maps.

The wine industry recognises the importance of giving customers an understanding of the vines’ environment and how that may influence wine character …

Supermarket Redlining And Food Deserts: Potential Policies And Alternative Food Market Solutions With Applications To The Hartford Food System, Alexis Meehan

Honors Scholar Theses

Food deserts are neighborhoods that are typically socioeconomically disadvantaged and have high levels of low-income populations who face barriers to accessing healthy, nutritious food. These barriers which include, but are not limited to, the increased distance these food insecure populations are located from large food retailers that supply fresh produce. Many of these inequalities stem from institutionalized racism which allowed for practices such as supermarket redlining and, in part, led to the creation of food deserts in places like Hartford, Connecticut. In using the historical context that shaped the Hartford food system and comparing the identified alternative food market solutions …

The Socio-Environmental Politics Surrounding The Commodification Of Guayusa In The Ecuadorian Amazon, Molly Silk

Master's Theses

Guayusa, a tree used for its leaves, that when dried, boiled, and consumed in tea form, acts as a natural stimulant due to its high levels of caffeine. Initially used among Kichwa people, the plant is thought to be a panacea with abilities to heal health complications such as infertility, headaches, and nausea. In addition, the Kichwa community holds an incredibly strong ritualistic and cultural connection to the tea. Guayusa is said to connect the person and community to the dream world through the process of gathering in the early hours of the morning to drink the tea, and decipher …

What Does A "Just" Local Food System Look Like? Views From Worcester In A Changing Climate, Marguerite Cawley

Capstone Collection

Food and climate are closely intertwined, with the high-emissions U.S. industrial food system contributing to climate change, while a changing climate produces new food system vulnerabilities, which will particularly impact those of the least means. This research is premised on the need to transform our food system, and to define what this vision looks like at the local level, while centering questions of power, justice and rights. It explores how groups, organizations and individuals engaged in local food system change envision transformation and understand corresponding social justice concerns, in a changing climate. It looks at opportunities for food and climate …

Communal Reciprocity In The Andes: An Ethnohistorical Approach To The Relationship Between Ayni And Food Production, Catherine Curran

Spanish Honors Papers

Ayni, or reciprocity, historically characterizes Quechua culture as a fundamental aspect of ancient Andean societies. Furthermore, ayni represents a cosmovision that may come from pre-Hispanic times (as a political practice and ideology of the Inca Empire), that can be found in the texts of historians of the colonial period and endure to the present day. In this way, ayni is an ancient principle that has influenced Andean communities and continues to maintain today as a way to re-energize and maintain livelihood of the community through environmental conservation and complex household economies of sharing land, labor, and food. Due to …

The Role Of University Of Nebraska-Lincoln's Biodigester On Sustainable Food Waste Reduction Within Selleck Dining Center, Jennifer Gilbert

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln took a major step toward sustainability this past fall when Dining Services installed their first ever biodigester on November 8, 2019 within Selleck Dining Center. The impact this biodigester has had, thus far, is observable in the form of quantitative data collected in the amount of food waste digested by this technology. This study focuses on analyzing collected data from the LFC Cloud database, while also searching for trends and patterns that could further suggest substantial impact and efficiency of the biodigester on food waste reduction and sustainability initiatives within UNL Dining Services. Data Tables and …

Redesigning Our Conception Of Local Food Utilizing A Value-Based Approach, Heather Riesenberg

Sustainability and Social Justice

The goal of this study was to design a new method of evaluating and building local food systems which is based on a new conception of how we view local food. Beginning with a review of the current literature on how local food is defined and its apparent goals, I begin to pick apart the dated idea that local needs not be more complex than the 400-mile limit offered by the USDA. Utilizing the literature review, I bring together a host of values that local food seems to (want to) embody and use these to form a pathway toward the …

Food System Resilience In The Face Of Covid-19: A Study Of Maine’S Food Sovereignty Movement, Hania M. Lincoln Lenderking

Honors Theses

As the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities in the United States’ industrialized food system, the need for a more resilient alternative is stronger than ever. In Maine, food sovereignty - the right of people to determine their own food system - has been enacted at the local level through the adoption of the Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance (LFCSGO). Using unstructured interviews with leaders of Maine’s food sovereignty movement conducted prior to the pandemic, this study aims to link food sovereignty in Maine to the concept of food system resilience. Participants defined food sovereignty specifically in relation to …

Food Accessibility Related To The Double Your Dollar Program, Julia Carlson, Heather Friedrich, Mechelle Bailey, Curt Rom

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The Double Your Dollar (DYD) Program is a program that gives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) participants match dollars to spend at local farmers markets. The DYD’s goal is to incentivize healthy eating among individuals of low income and promote spending at farmers markets. Food insecurity affects over 60,000 individuals in Washington and Benton counties in Arkansas. The aim of this study was to assess how the DYD program impacted users’ food accessibility and how the program could be improved for the future. A survey was used to address basic demographics, type, …

The Effects That Family Form And Medical Practices Have On The Willingness Of Consumers To Adopt Entomophagous Practices, Mackenzie Conlon

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

To help reduce amounts of destructive methane produced by livestock, climate activists are advocating for the inclusion of entomophagy in the mindset and culinary choices of Western society. Entomophagy, customary in most regions of the world, is seen as a deviant and disgusting food practice by most Westerners. In order to challenge this perception, producers of insect-based products are changing the appearance and marketability of their commodities. To successfully target markets, they need to determine the ideal household for entomophagy acceptance. My research tests the hypothesis that family form and medical practices affect the willingness of consumers to adopt these …

Anti-Colonial Foodways: Food Sovereignty In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Clara Zervigon

Scripps Senior Theses

After centuries of colonization, the geographies and social relations of New Orleans are incredibly unequal. While many in the city were aware of this fact, the destruction brought on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 laid bare all the problems built into the city’s environment and culture.

New Orleanians are subject to neocolonial power structures, and creating a more localized and democratic food system is a method in which we seek to subvert these systems. While this has been an ongoing process, Katrina both solidified the need and provided the conditions for greater change in our local foodways. In this thesis, …

Pendanaan Dalam Pencapaian Akses Universal Air Minum Di Indonesia, Ratria Anggraini Sudarsono, Nurkholis Nurkholis

Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan Indonesia

RPJMN 2015–2019 mandates universal access of drinking water in 2019. This study analyzes the policy using panel data regression. Random Effect Model (REM ) shows funding, per capita Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP ), and population density explain the water coverage of 23.57%, while the rest are explained by variables outside the model. Gross Regional Domestic Product (PDRB) per capita has the biggest impact on coverage, followed by Population Density. On funding, central government’s budget significantly has the highest impact, followed by local government’s budget (APBD), while others aren’t significant. Investment has positive effect, but high per capita investment may …

Food Policy For A Healthy, Sustainable, And Equitable Local Food System: Recommendations For Missoula, Erika Berglund

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the last several decades, food policy councils (FPCs) have led the effort to place food on local government policy agendas. While FPCs continue to make progress in supporting local food systems, they also face institutional and organizational challenges. In recent years, a handful of cities and counties have endeavored to further food system reform with the establishment of full-time food policy staff positions. Currently, there are 19 confirmed food policy positions housed in local governments across the U.S. While there is considerable literature on FPCs, little research has been published regarding governmental food policy staff positions. This study uses …

Breaking Ground On New Agricultural Models: Industrial Agriculture And The Local Food Movement, Elizabeth Nealon

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper discusses and examines the longstanding issues surrounding industrial food production as it currently exists and the various ways that purpose-driven enterprises and environmentally-conscious consumers in the United States have been able to steer food production in a more sustainable direction. Over the course of the technological revolution, people living in metropolitan areas have become so distanced from farms and the processes of food production that many are ignorant of the realities of the food industry. Chapter 1 addresses these issues by presenting quantitative data that lays out a timeline of the evolution of the food and agriculture industry …

Campus-Based Agriculture: The Future Of Food At Gettysburg College, Bryn K. Werley

Student Publications

This research investigates various methods for producing food on the campus of Gettysburg College in order to improve food sustainability. The transportation of food contributes to the increased use of fossil fuels, which in turn leads to global warming and climate change. By producing a larger portion of its food on-campus, Gettysburg College could reduce the amount of food transported to the school, thereby lessening the College’s environmental impact. Urban farming techniques, hydroponics, aquaponics, and greenhouse-based agriculture are explored as viable methods for achieving this goal. Examples of the use of these techniques on college campuses are drawn from Allegheny …

Commmunity, Ecology, And Modernity: Faunal Analysis Of Skútustaðir In Mývatnssveit, Northern Iceland, Megan Hicks

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the archaeofaunal remains from Skútustaðir, a middle to high-status farm in Mývatnssveit, Northern Iceland, to understand the experience of rural communities and their ecologies during Iceland’s transition from regulated colonial exchange to a capitalist economy during the 17^th through 19^th centuries. Archaeofaunal analysis is used to reconstruct changes in the ways that people herded, hunted, and fished, providing insights into how they managed their local environments for subsistence and novel contexts of exchange. In addition to archaeofaunal analysis, primary textual sources are explored to assess how the Skútustaðir household and its rural community mobilized long-term …

Negative Impacts Of The Beef Industry: Lab-Grown Meat, Stephanie Grass

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

The beef industry is harmful to the environment and human health and alternative solutions must be implemented in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Water and grain are used in agriculture in abundance despite the negative environmental effects it causes. Cattle are the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the sector, also contributing to climate change. Antibiotics are used in large quantities without regard to potential future consequences. One potential solution for this problem is lab-grown beef, which demands very little from the consumer and would take pressure off the environmental issues the beef industry creates. Lab-grown …

Food Deserts Debunked And Decentered: From Deficit To Relational Mapping For Food Justice In Worcester, Ma, Brenna Robeson

Sustainability and Social Justice

The mapping of food deserts has become a standardized component of food and health policy work concerned with expanding food access. These maps often follow a similar format of spatially identifying where grocery stores are absent in communities, thus suggesting a straightforward problem diagnosis and intervention blueprint. This paper questions the over-emphasis among many food and health policy practitioners on these technically engineered policy stories, specifically for their obstruction of histories of white supremacy and capitalism within the US food system and urban landscapes. A mixed-methods approach is applied to a case study of Worcester, MA which appropriates GIS to …

Campus As A Living Lab: Community Centered Environmental Service Learning, Jennifer Braswell Alford

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

During the Fall Quarter of 2018, California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) students (GEOG 390) partnered with the Inland Empire Resources Conservation District (IERCD) to assists the CSUSB Housing and Residence Life program to develop educational programs aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and water resource management. The purpose of this initiative was for students to learn how collaborative partnerships and shared expertise and resources can assist with educating the public through environmental stewardship and service based learning activities that collectively aim to reduce human impacts to Earth systems and related resources. This is an important component of supporting campus and …

Assessing Woody Species In The Philadelphia Urban Forest: Foraging Potential Versus Actual Practices, Sarah Becker

Environment and Sustainability Presentations

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Agriculture, And Adaptations: Policy Recommendations For Conservation Agriculture, Sydney Abraham, Mel Dollison

Climate and Society

This paper examines the intersection of climate change and agriculture with a focus on possibilities for sustainable agriculture in a warmer world. The authors consider the impacts (both positive and detrimental) of climate change on food production systems before engaging with a variety of adaptive strategies including crop diversification, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and conservation agriculture (CA). These strategies are then applied within the context of sub-Saharan agricultural policy. Ultimately, the authors suggest that policymakers should support rural agriculture by prioritizing conservation agriculture as a critical piece of both mitigation and adaptation policy.

Mn Food (In)Security: Are Anti-Hunger Interventions In The Twin Cities Perpetuating Food Insecurity And Poverty?, Emma Kiley

Departmental Honors Projects

While anti-hunger organizations across the nation have been doing important work to address this issue, we have yet to see a significant decrease in food insecurity or poverty. This project uses a literature review and interviews with Twin Cities anti-hunger organizations to answer the following questions: How are anti-hunger interventions and the root causes of food insecurity mismatched? And what would it look like if anti-hunger organizations who are heavily engaged in the ‘feeding movement’ shifted their understanding to see food insecurity as a symptom of poverty, rather than an isolated issue? Working through themes of food charity models, privatized …