Mutual Aid and Autonomy: Opportunities and Constraints for Eugene’s Food System
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Date
2023-05
Authors
Gravatt, Abigail
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
McMichael argues that we currently exist in the third food regime. One marked by capitalism, corporate control and increasingly extreme externalities impacting humans and the environment (Robbins, 2015). Colonialism and capitalism have shifted once local and autonomous food systems to a globalized and industrialized one characterized by extreme distancing and lack of autonomy for individuals and communities (Robbins, 2015). According to Robbins (2015), this third food regime “has many long-term social implications, such as displacement and dispossession, dietary changes, and a widening gap between producers and consumers” as well as catastrophic environmental impacts such as “biodiversity loss, soil depletion, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions” (p. 449). This is an example of Marx’s theory of metabolic rift, the “separation between humans and nature” under capitalism, creating ecological decline (Robbins, 2015, p. 452).
In the Willamette Valley and across the globe, one of the most obvious effects of the current food regime is high rates of food insecurity. Lane County in Oregon, where the City of Eugene resides, has comparatively high rates of food insecurity. In 2017, 12.9 percent of Oregon was food insecure, and 14.6 percent of Lane County was food insecure. In the same year, 18.9 percent of Oregon’s children were food insecure, and 20.2 percent of Lane County’s children were food insecure (“2019 Status of Hunger,” 2019). In Lane County, minority populations are over two times more food insecure than white populations. The white population in 2017 reported 12.2 percent food insecurity, Asian and Pacific Islander populations reported 14.4 percent food insecurity, Black populations reported 28.1 percent food insecurity, Hispanic populations reported 28.8 percent food insecurity, and Native American populations reported 31 percent food insecurity (“2019 Status of Hunger,” 2019).
Food Sovereignty is one counter movement to the capitalist and corporate food regime. Food Sovereignty radically reimagines the food system and outlines a “desired system of agricultural production, distribution, consumption and social relations” that is local and equitable food systems (Robbins, 2015, p. 452). Localization is often a central element of food sovereignty because it acts in resistance to the distancing caused by industrialization and globalization (Robbins, 2015). However, it raises questions about who these counter food movements are serving, and whether intentions are being actualized. Robbins (2015) raises the question: “Can local food systems adequately feed those living in poverty and low-income situations, those who cannot afford to pay premium prices for local, ecologically produced food products?” (p. 450). I argue that this is where mutual aid and nonprofit organizing steps in to fill the visible gap between the illusion of food sovereignty for a community and the real rates of food insecurity experienced by unhoused, low income and minority populations. However, grassroots organizing has its limitations for creating true autonomy, sovereignty, and systemic change.
My thesis outlines food insecurity as a result of the current corporate food regime and determines how successful mutual aid and nonprofit organizing is at creating individual and community autonomy as a way of working towards food sovereignty for marginalized populations. This research aims to answer the questions: How does the process of mutual aid shape the experience of autonomy in the Eugene food system? What forms of mutual aid currently exist in Eugene? To what extent is there autonomy in Eugene’s food system? In what ways do policy and other factors structure mutual aid and autonomy in Eugene’s food system?
Description
52 pages
Keywords
food systems, food sovereignty, Willamette Valley, mutual aid, autonomy