Thinking Food: Reclaiming Our Food Narratives as a Social Justice Practice

Day Two of the Thinking Food Winter Colloquium will be held at the UC Davis Student Farm.

Reclaiming Our Food Narratives as a Social Justice Practice seeks to counter dominant narratives about disease and lack in reference to the foodways of Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color in the U.S. Throughout the winter quarter, we will collaborate with others to do this work by staging conversations, film screenings, book talks, an interactive off-campus site visit, and opportunities for convivial eating and body work (walking) with scholars, activists, writers, chefs, farmers located primarily in Northern California, but with national presence as well.

Program

Saturday, March 15, 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

• [8:00 a.m.] Breakfast and Registration
• [9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.] Opening Plenary: African Descent Earth and Community Workers moderated by Jocelyn Jackson
• [11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.] Walk-about Guided Tours on the Student Farm
• [1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.] Lunch and Writing Meditation
• [2:45 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.] Conversation: Indigenous and Latinx Reclamations
• [4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.] Keynote: Jocelyn Jackson
• [5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.] Dinner by Crispin Supper Club with Camins2Dreams wines

Tickets are limited. Please register with the intention to attend the entire Day Two of the colloquium. A more detailed agenda will be announced in the weeks before the event.

Important Notes for Attendees

• The walk-about guided tours will require some light walking and navigating uneven ground and surfaces. We recommend wearing closed-toe shoes and clothes that fully cover your legs.
• If in the event it rains on March 15, tents or other coverings will be set up on the farm. Plan to keep an eye on the weather and bring rain jackets or umbrellas if needed.
• If you have any mobility concerns, please let us know at check-in of the event. The Student Farm is more than happy to offer accommodations on-site to those who need mobility assistance.

The approach is multi-dimensional and allows for a vibrant framework grounded in localized efforts to amplify the ways in which Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color communities/individuals are creating, historicizing, and making known the richness of their food cultures in the midst of on-going systemic inequities, cultural erasure, and the still pervasive imageries of lack and disease. Additionally, food cultures and foodways cannot be grappled with in a vacuum. Many of the scholars, activists, and everyday practitioners engage issues of spirituality, sustainability, land preservation/stewardship, clean water, and climate change as integral to creating food justice; and moving toward an ethos of food sovereignty – which goes beyond “promoting food access [...] to emphasizing local ownership and management of food resources” (Jones 2019, 56).

Reclaiming Our Food Narratives as Social Justice Practice asks:

• How do we grapple with Audre Lorde’s entreaty, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” and work to create joyful and meaningful spaces that do the hard work of DEEP social justice?
• How do we create links and through-lines of community amongst folks whose very histories are actively being erased?
• How do we Recreate/ Reinvigorate/ Restore the multiracial solidarity movement that was emblematic of the 'farm workers movement' in the 60's?
• What roles can we play to effectively marshal the resources we do have access to, to create a more just society?
• How do we create networked communities of care?

To think through those questions collectively, we gather BIPOC, queer, non-binary, gender non-conforming folks (and allies) who are doing the work to reclaim, revalue and re-engage with culturally-based food, land, and self/community-care practices. This may be through farming, growing, art, teaching, writing, cooking/baking, filmmaking, bodywork, entrepreneurship and any combination of these practices (and others we don’t know about yet). We are particularly interested in grassroots efforts which endeavor to build and sustain people and communities rather than mega institutions (including the one within which these events are staged). We seek to connect with interested and engaged students, staff/faculty, and the general public within the Sacramento, Central Valley, and Bay Areas.

Parking is available at UC Davis Visitor Parking Lot 30. Saturday permits are not required. Please read all parking signs thoroughly.

For directions to the Student Farm, follow this Google Maps link.

Host or Publisher UC Davis Library