B.1. Case Study Module: Food Security and Cultural Connectedness in Northwestern Ontario
Objectives:
Students will be able to define Food Security and understand its multifaceted relationship with sustainability
Students will have an awareness of the workings of the global food system and its implications for rural communities
Students will be able to identify the various ways that Food Security is challenged in rural and remote communities
Students will understand how cultures emerge through people’s efforts to adapt through interactions with each other in a particular social-ecological system.
Students will understand the implications of this place-based view of culture for the sustainability of rural communities.
Background:
Rural communities face many unique challenges in maintaining food security. Some of the barriers experienced by rural communities in Northwestern Ontario include the increased cost, lower quality and poorer nutritional value of store-bought foods, limited agricultural infrastructure, climactic and geographic barriers to food growing, contamination of the environment, and a loss of traditional knowledge in Aboriginal communities. Many of these barriers stem from an increased dependence upon a global, commercial food system that is not well adapted to the circumstances of remote communities. Factors such as decreased government investment in northern agriculture, industrial pollution, and loss of traditional knowledge have undermined the indigenous northern food system and the resilience and self-sufficiency of rural and remote communities in this region.
Culture is understood to be a dynamic system of meaning and information that is shared by a group of people, is transmitted and adapted across generations, and facilitates the survival, interaction, and well-being of the group. As such, culture is a collective repository of knowledge that emerges seamlessly from the ecological context of the people, as they seek to feed themselves, survive, and adapt in their given ecological setting. However, the ecological setting that many people in Northwestern Ontario are now turning to for their adaptation and survival is the media-communicated global, urban setting, including the commercial food system, which is not consistent with the actual physical setting of the people. The effects of our food systems on the ongoing evolution of our cultures and the role of culture in building sustainable and resilient communities will be discussed in the context of several long-term research projects conducted in Northwestern Ontario.
Lecture
Food Security and Cultural Connectedness (1.2 MB Powerpoint file)
Readings:
Stroink, M.L. & Nelson, C.H.
(2009). Aboriginal health learning in the forest and cultivated gardens: Building
a nutritious and sustainable food system. Journal
of Agromedicine, 14-2, 263-269
Resources:
Deconstructing Dinner, a popular Canadian radio show on Food Security issues: http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner/
Food Security Research Network: www.foodsecurityresearch.ca
Climate Change and Food Security: A Framework Document. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, 2008. Available from: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/PANA-7KADCQ/$file/fao_may2008.pdf?openelement
Heinberg, R. & Bombford, M. (2009). The Food and Farming Transition: Toward a Post Carbon Food System. Post Carbon Institute. Available from: http://www.postcarbon.org/report/41306-the-food-and-farming-transition-toward
Discussion Questions:
Given the definition of food security that will be discussed in this module, how food secure are different groups of people in your area? Think about people of different ages, socio-economic statuses, and abilities, as well as of rural and urban settings.
Describe the food system that sustains your community as it currently operates (there may be more than one). How sustainable is this food system? How resilient is it to external shocks?
What effects is this food system having on the dynamics and evolution of the culture in your community? In other words, can you detect changes in the culture that correspond to changes in the food system?
What could be done to increase the resilience and sustainability of the food system? Are changes in the culture of the community required in order to make these changes in the food system?
Class Presentation from 10/7/2011
Vocabulary:
Food System:
Food Security:
Culture:
Resilience:
Faculty Contact:
Dr. Mirella Stroink, Lakehead University, mstroink@lakeheadu.ca