{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/97445"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/97445","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Posthumanist Study of Health and the Food System: Vegetal Politics in Toronto Urban Gardens in the Anthropocene","abstract":"This critical qualitative study explores the ontological split between humans and nature, identified by scholars including Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway, and considers human health and the food system in the Anthropocene. I draw on posthumanist theory to investigate what happens to understandings of food systems and health if the ontological dualism in Euro-Western thought that separates humans from nature is challenged, or even undone. What is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system? What is a posthumanist approach to food systems and health in the context of the city, during this time of rapid urbanization, environmental destruction and climate change? I engaged with gardeners who grow food in the City of Toronto and their plants. Garden visits and interviews were conducted with 23 gardeners about their growing practices, plants and conceptions of health and wellbeing. To place these growers in context I conducted key informant interviews on urban agriculture; consulted grey literature including municipal reports, seed catalogues and archival material; and implemented a survey (N=103) with a wider group of growers. Participant observation involved working in community gardens during the growing season of 2018 as part of a multispecies ethnography where plants were considered as participants of equal importance to humans. Part One explores the theoretical underpinnings and the methodology I developed to identify plant agency in gardens. Part Two presents the empirical work that investigates health, vegetal politics and plant agency in Toronto. Part Three lays out the contributions of the thesis. The theoretical contribution is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system. The methodological contribution is a three-step approach to accounting for plant agency. The substantive contribution is about plant agency. I argue that plants are actors in the redevelopment of the Toronto’s Regent Park and that plants co-produce food sovereignty and support the ecological determinants of health. These findings contribute to an understanding of what is being called ‘vegetal politics’ and expand on definitions of health as related to food production and consumption.","abstract_html":"This critical qualitative study explores the ontological split between humans and nature, identified by scholars including Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway, and considers human health and the food system in the Anthropocene. I draw on posthumanist theory to investigate what happens to understandings of food systems and health if the ontological dualism in Euro-Western thought that separates humans from nature is challenged, or even undone. What is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system? What is a posthumanist approach to food systems and health in the context of the city, during this time of rapid urbanization, environmental destruction and climate change? I engaged with gardeners who grow food in the City of Toronto and their plants. Garden visits and interviews were conducted with 23 gardeners about their growing practices, plants and conceptions of health and wellbeing. To place these growers in context I conducted key informant interviews on urban agriculture; consulted grey literature including municipal reports, seed catalogues and archival material; and implemented a survey (N=103) with a wider group of growers. Participant observation involved working in community gardens during the growing season of 2018 as part of a multispecies ethnography where plants were considered as participants of equal importance to humans. Part One explores the theoretical underpinnings and the methodology I developed to identify plant agency in gardens. Part Two presents the empirical work that investigates health, vegetal politics and plant agency in Toronto. Part Three lays out the contributions of the thesis. The theoretical contribution is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system. The methodological contribution is a three-step approach to accounting for plant agency. The substantive contribution is about plant agency. I argue that plants are actors in the redevelopment of the Toronto’s Regent Park and that plants co-produce food sovereignty and support the ecological determinants of health. These findings contribute to an understanding of what is being called ‘vegetal politics’ and expand on definitions of health as related to food production and consumption.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Elton, Sarah"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Dalla Lana School of Public Health","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Poland, Blake"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-11","date_published":"2019-11","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:27:58Z","subjects":["gardens","human-nature relationship","non-human agency","posthumanism","urban agriculture"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1807/97445","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Poland, Blake"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Dalla Lana School of Public Health"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Elton, Sarah"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2019-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2019-11-13T18:00:59Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-11-13T18:00:59Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2019-11"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["gardens","human-nature relationship","non-human agency","posthumanism","urban agriculture"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/97445"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This critical qualitative study explores the ontological split between humans and nature, identified by scholars including Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway, and considers human health and the food system in the Anthropocene. 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Participant observation involved working in community gardens during the growing season of 2018 as part of a multispecies ethnography where plants were considered as participants of equal importance to humans. Part One explores the theoretical underpinnings and the methodology I developed to identify plant agency in gardens. Part Two presents the empirical work that investigates health, vegetal politics and plant agency in Toronto. Part Three lays out the contributions of the thesis. The theoretical contribution is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system. The methodological contribution is a three-step approach to accounting for plant agency. The substantive contribution is about plant agency. I argue that plants are actors in the redevelopment of the Toronto’s Regent Park and that plants co-produce food sovereignty and support the ecological determinants of health. These findings contribute to an understanding of what is being called ‘vegetal politics’ and expand on definitions of health as related to food production and consumption."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Posthumanist Study of Health and the Food System: Vegetal Politics in Toronto Urban Gardens in the Anthropocene"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Poland, Blake"],"dc:contributor.department":["Dalla Lana School of Public Health"],"dc:creator":["Elton, Sarah"],"dc:date":["2019-11"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2019-11-13T18:00:59Z"],"dc:date.available":["2019-11-13T18:00:59Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2019-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["This critical qualitative study explores the ontological split between humans and nature, identified by scholars including Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway, and considers human health and the food system in the Anthropocene. I draw on posthumanist theory to investigate what happens to understandings of food systems and health if the ontological dualism in Euro-Western thought that separates humans from nature is challenged, or even undone. What is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system? What is a posthumanist approach to food systems and health in the context of the city, during this time of rapid urbanization, environmental destruction and climate change? I engaged with gardeners who grow food in the City of Toronto and their plants. Garden visits and interviews were conducted with 23 gardeners about their growing practices, plants and conceptions of health and wellbeing. To place these growers in context I conducted key informant interviews on urban agriculture; consulted grey literature including municipal reports, seed catalogues and archival material; and implemented a survey (N=103) with a wider group of growers. Participant observation involved working in community gardens during the growing season of 2018 as part of a multispecies ethnography where plants were considered as participants of equal importance to humans. Part One explores the theoretical underpinnings and the methodology I developed to identify plant agency in gardens. Part Two presents the empirical work that investigates health, vegetal politics and plant agency in Toronto. Part Three lays out the contributions of the thesis. The theoretical contribution is a posthumanist understanding of health in the food system. The methodological contribution is a three-step approach to accounting for plant agency. The substantive contribution is about plant agency. I argue that plants are actors in the redevelopment of the Toronto’s Regent Park and that plants co-produce food sovereignty and support the ecological determinants of health. 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