If There Wasn’t Farming, Somebody Wouldn’t Eat: Small Scale Agriculture, Community Autonomy, And Food Sovereignty In Mississippi

This thesis examines the historical context of small scale farming and grassroots social movements in Mississippi’s history, and investigates the ways small farmers and community advocates are drawing upon their land-based heritage and local knowledge systems to create community-controlled food systems in dialogue with broader national and global conversations about sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. Employing a multi-scalar method of analysis, the research studies issues from the perspective of individuals, communities, institutions, as well as national and transnational systems. The work draws from previous scholarship in environmental studies, agroecology, critical race studies, rural sociology, critical historiography, agrifood studies, and regional studies to further a person-centered critique of industrial agriculture. It uses the scalar model to connect Mississippi’s history of small scale farming, black land loss, and grassroots social movements to global human rights struggles and the food sovereignty movement. The original research suggests that individuals with strong senses of place and commitments to community are integral to sustainability in local food systems. It forwards the conclusion that these individuals can be powerful agents of change on a global scale when they join together in solidarity and resistance to global institutional policies which systematically undermine local environments, local people, and local knowledge practices.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Southern Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Southern Studies

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Van Riper, Irene

Contributors dc:contributor

• Catarina Passidomo Townes
• Andy Harper
• Kathryn McKee

• Community Advocacy
• Food Sovereignty
• Grassroots Social Movements
• Local Food Systems
• Small Scale Agriculture
• Sustainability
• American Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/868

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1867