Abstract
Over time, the corporate food economy has led to the increased separation of people from the sources of their food and nutrition. This paper explores the opportunity for grassroots, food-based organizations, as part of larger food justice movements, to act as valuable sites for countering the tendency to identify and value a person only as a consumer and to serve as places for actively learning democratic citizenship. Using The Stop Community Food Centre’s urban agriculture program as a case in point, the paper describes how participation can be a powerful site for transformative adult learning. Through participation in this Toronto-based, community organization, people were able to develop strong civic virtues and critical perspectives. These, in turn, allowed them to influence policy makers; to increase their level of political efficacy, knowledge, and skill; and to directly challenge anti-democratic forces of control.
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Charles Z. Levkoe recently earned a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. His research interests focus on alternative responses to urban and rural food security issues and considers the role of grassroots organizations, their connection to place and their ability to organize across scales. He has been active in food security and community gardening movements across Canada. This paper was prepared for the 2004 joint meeting of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) and the Association for the Study of Food and Society. It was selected as the winner of the 2004 AFHVS Student Essay Contest.
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Levkoe, C.Z. Learning Democracy Through Food Justice Movements. Agric Hum Values 23, 89–98 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-005-5871-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-005-5871-5