Food Justice and Narrative Ethics: Reading Stories for Ethical Awareness and Activism

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Beth A. Dixon explores how food justice impacts on human lives. Stories and reports in national media feature on the one hand hunger, famine and food scarcity, and on the other, rising rates of morbid obesity and health issues. Other storiesfood justice narrativesillustrate how to correct the ethical damage created by the first type of story. They detail the nature of oppression and structural injustice, and show how these conditions constrain choices, truncate moral agency, and limit opportunities to live well. With stories from national media, food and farming memoirs, and scholarly ethnographies, Dixon reveals how different food narratives are constructed, and enable identification of just solutions to issues surrounding food insecurity, farm labor, and the lived experience of obesity. Drawing on Aristotles concept of ethical perception, Dixon demonstrates how we can use narratives to enhance our understanding and ethical competence about injustice in relation to food. Food Justice and Narrative Ethics is a must-read for students of food studies, philosophy, and media studies.

Reviews

"Beth Dixon skillfully combines scholarship and storytelling to show how we can better see injustices in the food system. This book is insightful, engaging and compelling. A must-read for any serious student of and advocate for a more effective and just food system. * Harvey James, University of Missouri, USA *
This innovative collection brings together a series of narratives to explore critical topics relating to food insecurity, farm labor, and obesity. Instead of giving us ethical principles or telling us how we should think about food-related topics, the approach permits us to develop our reactions and perceptions through the detailed stories provided, together with our engagement with them. The rich methodology developed here should prove invaluable for future investigations of food-related topics and beyond. * Rachel A. Ankeny, University of Adelaide, Australia *
In focusing on ethical reasoning, Dixon offers a fresh perspective to the burgeoning scholarly literature on food justice. * Julie Guthman, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA *
Dixons book offers a timely analysis of one of the most pressing challenges at the intersection of hunger relief and food justice; how the stories we tell can perpetuate or expose injustice. Its time to challenge the dominant narrative of hunger, share true and complicated stories, and expose the root causes of poverty. Only then can we begin to build an equitable food system for all." * Amanda Nickey, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, USA *

Author Bio

Beth A. Dixon is Professor of Philosophy at State University of New York College, USA.