14 pages., Food ecologies and economies are vital to the survival of communities, non-human species, and our planet. While environmental communication scholars have legitimated food as a topic of inquiry, the entangled ecological, cultural, economic, racial, colonial, and alimentary relations that sustain food systems demand greater attention. In this essay, we review literature within and beyond environmental communication, charting the landscape of critical food work in our field. We then illustrate how environmental justice commitments can invigorate interdisciplinary food systems-focused communication scholarship articulating issues of, and critical responses to, injustice and inequity across the food chain. We stake an agenda for food systems communication by mapping three orientations—food system reform, justice, and sovereignty—that can assist in our critical engagements with and interventions into the food system. Ultimately, we entreat environmental communication scholars to attend to the bends, textures, and confluences of these orientations so that we may deepen our future food-related inquiries.
Online from organization website. 2 pages., Describes steps being taken or planned for governance of SEJ, membership diversity, representation, allyship, and funding in the interest of achieving racial equality within SEJ and in the news industry at large.
10 pages, How to increase conservation practices on farmland is a never-ending discussion topic for those working in the area of agriculture. Targeting of potential clients through conservation marketing is a key principle. Yet, prior research has identified that women and people of color are largely “invisible” in agriculture, to federal agricultural and conservation agencies. In this content analysis, we conduct an analysis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agency websites and social media to determine the inclusiveness of marketing by USDA. Our analysis of gender and race focuses on three primary categories: (1) numbers; (2) focus; and (3) roles. Our findings reveal that the USDA is perpetuating a normative position of agriculture as a man’s world with its dominant focus on the white male. The findings highlight how women (especially those of color) are marginalized in agricultural imagery by federal agricultural agencies that provide conservation programs.
20 pages., via online journal., What happens when one controversial text meets another in performance? How do diverse audiences from rural and metropolitan areas respond to powerful yet provocative material? The Kennesaw State University Department of Theatre and Performance Studies sought to answer these questions with Splittin’ the Raft, a dramatic adaptation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as interpreted by ex-slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Funded by the National Endowment for
the Arts, the ensemble toured seven North Georgia communities, ranging from inner-city schools to rural mountain towns. The struggles faced and the conversations encountered prove the
lasting legacy of American slavery. Socially engaged theatre can create a unique forum for constructive dialogue within communities. This article highlights the healing conversations inspired by this student production and explores some widely contrasting responses to renovated slave dwellings in two Georgia communities, Oxford and Sautee Nacoochee.
