Community Connections
The Science and History of Food: A Teaching Collaboration on Sustainability in Food Systems View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Blodgett, Marjorie Feld
We co-teach a course in Sustainable Food Systems from the historical and scientific perspectives, approaching students as food consumers and as scholars of food production. We integrate cross-disciplinary content to inform systems-based analyses of food security, natural resource exploitation, and pesticide exposure, and teach about farming techniques, food sovereignty, and the indigenous and enslaved histories of North American food systems labor. Students assess the sustainability of all elements that bring food to our tables: the agricultural and labor practices in fields and animal processing plants, the wages and tipping practices in restaurants, and the broader corporate models of who controls what food we can (or cannot) access to sustain our bodies and our cultures. Students look at the evolution of high-yield, extractive, monocultural farming, and explore more sustainable agricultural models—especially, but not exclusively, among farmers who belong to communities of indigenous, Black, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer, rural, or immigrant people. In this paper, we discuss specific course modules that connect urgent, contemporary issues—including climate change, labor rights, racial and gender justice—to food security and food sovereignty, tying the science of diet and health, for example, to the lack of access to nutritional education and to healthy food across communities and across cultures. Our course addresses the key questions about the sustainability of our current food system, improving understandings of nutrition and eating practices, and the history of food systems policies.
Millet, Rice, Tomatoes, and Melons: Mapping Out the Practice of Senegalese-Italian Artist Binta Diaw View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Silvia Bottinelli
This paper discusses the use of edible plants in the practice of Senegalese-Italian artist Binta Diaw. Through the analysis of recent installations like DÏÀ S P O R A (2022), Chorus of Soil (2019‒21) and Chorus of Zong (2021), and Nero Sangue (2020), the study shows how Diaw incorporates edible materials with ties to African Diasporas. Millet and rice―traditional crops in the cuisine and spiritual practices of West Africa―become signifiers of resilience and care in Diaw’s visual vocabulary. Tomatoes and melons―often grown by African migrants under exploitative labor conditions in Southern Italian regions―are associated with the challenging life experiences of Black workers in Europe. In her immersive and multi-sensorial artworks, Diaw links the histories of the Middle Passage with current migration waves, unveiling the inequity of present food systems while honoring the ingenuity and strength of her community.
