1 - 3 of 3
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
2. The intersection of food justice and religious values in secular spaces: insights from a nonprofit urban farm in Columbus, Ohio
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ryan-Simkins, Kelsey (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-01-08
- Published:
- USA: Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12056
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Notes:
- 15 pages, via Online journal, Critical food scholars have argued that activists’ political ideologies and environmental values are important influences on their food justice projects. However, this body of work has given little attention to religion and spirituality even though religious studies scholars maintain that religious values affect environmental and social action. Bringing together these perspectives considers the way religious values and meaning making intersect with actions toward food justice outside of traditionally religious spaces. This paper draws on qualitative research, including a dozen interviews and 11 months of participant observation, at Franklinton Farms, a nonprofit urban farm in Columbus, Ohio. I demonstrate that Franklinton Farms team members reference diverse religious values and practices when explaining the meaning and significance of their farming. In addition, I argue that they renegotiate their religious values in light of the injustices they see in the food system. By examining religion and spirituality within a secular food space, this paper sheds light on an underexplored influence on whether and how alternative food spaces realize food justice.
3. Towards a dialogue of sustainable agriculture and end-times theology in the United States: insights from the historical ecology of nineteenth century millennial communes
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Fisher, Chelsea (author) and Department of Anthropology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, USA
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-07-09
- Published:
- Springer Netherlands
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 151 Document Number: D10126
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Journal Title Details:
- 35(4) : 791–807
- Notes:
- 17 pages., Print ISSN: 0889-048X Online ISSN: 1572-8366, Via online journal., Almost one-third of all U.S. Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in the next 40 years, thereby signaling the end of the world. The prevalence of this end-times theology has meant that sustainability initiatives are often met with indifference, resistance, or even hostility from a significant portion of the American population. One of the ways that the scientific community can respond to this is by making scientific discourse, particularly as related to sustainability, more palatable to end-times believers. In this paper, I apply a historical–ecological framework, which emphasizes the interdisciplinary study of landscapes to understand long-term human–environment interactions, to three millennial religious groups that formed communes in nineteenth century America. The Shakers, Inspirationalists, and Mormons all blended deep beliefs in end-times theology with agricultural practices that were arguably more sustainable than those in use in the mainstream, and their ability to reconcile eschatology with sustainability provides us with potential lessons. By examining the history, doctrines, and agroecology of these nineteenth century communes, I propose communication strategies based in autonomy, institutional support, multigenerational narratives, and anthropocentricism as potential pathways for a more productive dialogue between advocates of sustainability initiatives and end-times believers in the modern United States.