Guest editors’ introduction: Building a radical food geography praxis

Abstract

The articles included in this special edition were compiled during a turbulent 2020, which exposed several inequalities in food systems. Poverty and food insecurity have worsened throughout the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic and its associated economic downturns, particularly in minority and Indigenous populations (Bauer, 2020; Perry and Harshbarger, 2020; Roberts, 2020). People who work in the food system and are employed in a precarious manner often live paycheck to paycheck; this is exemplified by the fact that many restaurant employees have lost their jobs as a result of closures and are now struggling to meet their basic needs (Dickinson, 2020). Furthermore, despite insufficient worker safeguards against the new coronavirus, migrant workers are compelled to return to farmlands, dairies, and meat processing industries (Beaumont, 2020). There will be food shortages in certain regions of the globe since the global food trade networks that the dominant industrial food system has adopted are ill-equipped to deal with disruptions like this (Chin, 2020). All of these long-standing and worsening inequalities have their roots in the capitalist system's inherent racism, sexism, and colonialism, which in turn prevents individuals and communities from establishing food systems that are fair and sustainable (Freshour, 2017). In their battle against systemic oppression and police brutality, social movements have brought attention to the intersection of food insecurity with power dynamics, which disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour populations (Nittle, 2020).
Various approaches to radical food geography practice are shown in this special issue. Standing at the crossroads of radical geography and food systems study, this praxis offers both theoretical and practical insights into the fight against oppressive food systems and the creation of more just and sustainable food systems for the future. These methods are based on an examination of capitalism exploitation, oppression, and power relations in different historical contexts. However, they go beyond these theories and use their knowledge to research, activism, or both in order to effect change in food systems. Crucially, different people's perspectives on the historical, cultural, and philosophical systems that influence the pursuit of change and by whom it is undertaken form the basis of such practice.