Center for Regional Food Studies Hosts Lecture Series on "Just Nourishment"

Feb. 11, 2020
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This spring, the University of Arizona Center for Regional Food Studies and its community partners are offering programming on the theme “Just Nourishment.” Three guest speakers will conduct both a public talk and workshop. All events are free and open to the public.

The center, which is housed in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, selected the theme in honor of its partnership with the Dunbar Pavilion on the Dunbar Wellness Project. All events will be held at the Dunbar Pavilion on 325 West 2nd Street in Tucson.

The series is funded by a $100,000 grant from the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. The grant was received by the Center for Regional Food Studies, Dunbar Pavilion, El Rio Health Centers and the Coalition for African-American Health & Wellness to fund educational health and wellness programming

“Our center is working to promote a more just food system,” said Megan Carney, director of the Center for Regional Food Studies. “We were particularly motivated to partner with the Dunbar Pavilion and others on this collaboration for the potential to address race equity issues, and the myriad forms of anti-blackness that pervade our local, regional and global food systems and impact health disparities.”

The “Just Nourishment” lecture series is also sponsored by the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry, the School of Geography and Development, the School of Anthropology, and the Dunbar Pavilion.

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February Events Focus on Food Justice

The guest speaker for February is Karen Washington, a community activist, co-founder of Black Urban Growers, and co-owner of Rise & Root Farm. In 2012, Ebony magazine voted Washington one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the country, and in 2014 she received the James Beard Leadership Award.

Public Talk: “Food Justice is More than Growing Food and Feeding People”
Tuesday, February 18, 2020, 5:00 PM
Dunbar Pavilion, Auditorium

In this talk, Washington will discuss how food justice refers to more than just transforming how we grow food and feed people. She describes how notions of food security that revolve solely around changes to how people grow food, eat and exercise fall short of creating lasting change in the food system.

Workshop: Working in Food Justice
Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 5:00 PM
Dunbar Pavilion, Historic Building
Workshop space is full. RSVP to add your name to the wait list.

In this workshop, attendees will explore how food justice shows up in their work.

March Events Focus on the Science of Social Justice

The guest speaker for March is Sará King, a post-doctoral scholar in neurology at Oregon Health Science University and a yoga/meditation teacher. King studies the relationship between mindfulness, complementary alternative medicine, and social justice.

Public Talk: The Science of Social Justice
Friday, March 27, 2020, 5:00 PM
Dunbar Pavilion, Auditorium

Dr. Sará King will present her research on the “Science of Social Justice” – a way of utilizing a scientific lens to study, teach and offer healing to individuals and communities from the disease of othering.

Dr. King will also present her research on the impact of gentrification and urban renewal in communities of color and how this has contributed to the spread of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. She will discuss approaches to help prevent the spread of Alzheimer’s disease involving the use of mindfulness as a non-pharmacological complementary medical approach.

The Science of Social Justice: An Experiential Workshop Using Mindfulness and Story-Telling
Saturday, March 28, 2020, 2:00 PM
Dunbar Pavilion, Historic Building
Workshop space is limited. RSVP required.

Dr. Sará King will offer up instruction in mindful movement practices, mindfulness meditation, as well as story-telling exercises to explore the embodied impact of othering and discrimination.

April Events Focus on Anti-Blackness and Food Access, as well as Rest as Resistance

The guest speaker for April is Ashante Reese, the author of Black Food Geographies and an assistant professor of anthropology in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Public Talk: "There Ain't Nothin' in Deanwood": Anti-Blackness, Food Access, and Making a Way Outta No Way in Washington, D.C.”
Friday, April 3, 2020, 5:00 PM
Dunbar Pavilion, Auditorium

Tracing the food geographies of residents in northeast Washington D.C., this talk is guided by two queries: How do Black residents navigate and produce space in pursuit of food, especially when there is “nothing” there? What do theories of anti-Blackness reveal about conventional approaches to food inequities?

Workshop: Rest as Resistance 
Saturday, April 4, 2020, 10:00 AM
Dunbar Pavilion, Historic Building
Workshop space is limited. RSVP required.

Attendees will use a restorative yoga practice, meditation, and journaling to explore the power of rest.