Food Studies Commons^™

The Social Dimensions Of Aquaculture: Food Sovereignty And Indigenous Rights In Ketchikan, Alaska, Morgan J. Davis

Capstone Collection

This research project asks how the growing commercial aquaculture industry in Ketchikan, Alaska, functions to alleviate or exacerbate local food insecurity; reinforce or undermine food sovereignty among Indigenous communities, and enhance or restrict community participation in the control of marine resources. Global initiatives have responded to food insecurity through agricultural inputs and technology to create higher yields; however, conventional agricultural production has contributed to and is increasingly vulnerable to climate change. To address higher demands for food, government agencies and development experts have looked towards Blue Growth and aquaculture as a solution for food insecurity and environmental concerns. While aquaculture …

Let Us Break Bread Together: A Historical Analysis Of African American Chefs’ Influence On American Gastronomy, Danielle S. King

Capstone Collection

This Capstone project examines the historical impact of African American chefs on American gastronomy, highlighting their substantial contributions to the nation's culinary heritage from 1619 to 2024. By employing Jessica B. Harris's book High on the Hog as a foundation, the research identifies a critical gap in existing study abroad programs: the Black diaspora within the United States. The proposed four-week educational program aims to immerse participants in African American culinary heritage across four culturally rich cities: Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois, and Oakland, California. With a community cultural wealth framework, the program integrates historical research, hands-on …

Coffee In Brasil: Sustainability And The Role Of Intermediaries, Livia Petzinger

Capstone Collection

ABSTRACT

Coffee is traded in a highly complex global value chain where countless sustainability initiatives have emerged to address social, economic, and environmental issues, challenges which persist due to dominance of the market structure by largescale traders and roasters. Specialty coffee and direct trade have emerged as alternative trade arrangements that promote high-quality coffee through the use of sustainable practices, transparency, and a shortened supply chain. This research analyzes the role that intermediaries in the Brazilian specialty coffee supply chain play in the implementation of sustainability initiatives asking what kinds of sustainability practices they implement and why, and how this …

Building Resilience: Food And Nutritional Insecurity Among University Students In Buenos Aires, Argentina Amidst Inflation And Escalating Poverty, Kyoka Miura

Capstone Collection

This paper examines how university students (aged 18 and older) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, navigate the challenges of escalating food insecurity amidst food price inflation and poverty. Utilizing a resilience framework, the research explores the coping strategies of these students. The study integrates semi-structured qualitative interviews and questionnaires. The findings reveal that university students in Buenos Aires are affected by food and nutritional insecurity, impacting their ability to manage their academic responsibilities, and leading some students to question their ability to complete their education. To cope, students adopt various strategies: price comparison, reducing out-of-home expenses, altering food purchasing habits, compromising …

Social And Cultural Values In Alaskan Subsistence Management: Rurality And The Meaning Of “Meaningful” Natural Resource Management, Jarred Haynes

Capstone Collection

In Alaska, subsistence is a way of life for some communities. The Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) oversees the Federal Subsistence Management Program. One of its responsibilities is to determine areas as subsistence or non-subsistence areas. This decision, in part, is based on whether subsistence is a “principal characteristic of the economy, culture, and way of life”. (James A. Fall, Division of Subsistence, 2018). The federal policy grants these communities priority in the taking of wild resources (Title VIII of the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act). Interviews revealed factors of vulnerability and resilience, specifically in the context of subsistence. Scoones …

Foodways In Chile: A Bridge Back To Nature, Kayla Weiss

Capstone Collection

As the area of food studies continues to develop and evolve it has been recognized that, not only is food a necessity to life, but it is uniquely tied to understanding culture, history, and other aspects of a society. This study arose from recognizing this influence and importance and I took the opportunity to better understand how Birchwood College might be an optimal site for a short-term study abroad program based in food studies. I conducted a needs assessment through landscape research, surveying students, and interviewing food studies faculty and international educators at Birchwood College. The research findings offered insights …

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 …

Criar Y Dejarse Criar: Trans-Situ Crop Conservation And Indigenous Landscape Management Through A Network Of Global Food Neighborhoods, Cass Madden

Capstone Collection

As climate change progresses, global food security is likely to become increasingly threatened and crop biodiversity will be a significant source of resiliency and adaptability. However, these adaptations will only be fully realized through cooperative in situ and ex situ conservation and cultivation of domesticated crops, crop wild relatives, and wild foods. This conservation is best realized in places where communities have the cultural resources to invest meaningfully in the cultivation of native crops, and where the cultivation of those crops can reinforce place-specific livelihoods and identities. To this end, the principal objective of this research is to propose a …

Land As Power: Pathways For Closing The Gender Gap In Land Rights In India, Rachel Lubitz

Capstone Collection

This Independent Practitioner Inquiry Capstone sought to uncover whether women in their respective communities in India experience improvements in income, education, health, food security and their livelihoods, if said women farmers are able to secure the rights to both their land and other productive assets. The study used a comparative analysis to highlight the state of women’s land rights in India, in conjunction with a selection of best practices relevant to the context and analyzing a case study assessing the impact of one organization’s women’s land rights efforts in particular: The Human Development and Research Center’s Swabhoomi Kendra Center in …

Not So Bizarre Foods: Exploring The Historical And Cultural Traditions Behind The Foods Of France, Germany, And Italy, Kari Pederson Behrends

Capstone Collection

Not So Bizarre Foods is a summer-term program designed for upper-level Culinary Arts students from Johnson and Wales University, Providence. Unlike other programs serving students in the Culinary Arts, this unique model includes multiple locations and an internship. The proposed program features three month-long modules based in Lyon, France; Munich, Germany; and Naples, Italy allow for comparison across locations. Drawing from the theoretical frameworks of Kolb, Vygotsky, and Mezirow, the experiential, transformative curricular design combines an academic seminar, a practical seminar, and an internship placement, emphasizing the interplay between history, culture, and culinary tradition, a concept inspired by the popular …

Cacao Together: A Model For True Sustainability In The Chocolate Industry, Kerstin Roos

Capstone Collection

This Course Linked Capstone provides a critical analysis of the concept of sustainable development and then uses this analysis to create a social venture plan for a non-profit called Cacao Together. This capstone project will identify challenges in the sustainable use of cacao by first critiquing the mainstream sustainable development initiatives of certification schemes and corporate sustainability programs. It then offers an alternate framework through the 5 Capital Livelihood assessment tool which when applied, shows the gaps in cacao sustainability initiatives generally. I then propose a social venture that will addresses the needs of many parts of the chocolate supply …

Sustainability At Sit: A Look At The Past, A Plan For The Future, Taliesin Haugh

Capstone Collection

Climate change threatens our world and way of life. Intelligent development and investment could mitigate the worst threats of climate change, while simultaneously providing continuous growth for the global economy. The New Climate Economy proposes efforts to combat this ecological collapse that would result in $30 trillion in new annual economic growth by 2030. Stockholm Resilience Center agrees, giving a framework based on global ecological systems that calls for five critical tasks that can bring growth and stability: Renewable energy

Sustainable local food production

New development models, based on what has worked globally

Reduction of wealth inequity

Education, health, and …

Addressing Racism In Urban Agriculture: The Case For An Urban Agriculture Land Trust In Bridgeport, Connecticut, Chelsea Gazillo

Capstone Collection

Cities across the United States have started to adopt urban agriculture zoning ordinances which provide access to land and encourage food production in low-income black and brown communities. However, many cities fail to use an anti-racist lens in the creation and implementation of these policies. According to scholars and activists, anti-racist practices in urban agriculture zoning require that first, community organizations and policy makers co-create policy with black and brown communities and second, develop secure land tenure arrangements for urban agriculture. In this case study of the development of an urban agriculture zoning ordinance by the Bridgeport Connecticut Food Policy …

The Donation-Based Approach To Solving Critical Social Issues: An Examination Of The Food Waste Recovery Approach To Solving Hunger In The United States, Desa Radic

Capstone Collection

As the issue of hunger continues to plague the lives of nearly 1 billion people around the world, we need to find real, lasting and empowering solutions. This is an interdisciplinary research study into the donation-based approach to solving critical social issues in the United States by examining the food waste recovery and hunger debate. Social, public and private sectors advocate that hunger can be solved through food waste recovery and redistribution methods. From a systems perspective, such thinking is not only problematic for the people facing hunger, but raises concern of achieving overall social justice and change. Using qualitative …