My talk today focuses on the use of Black liberation theology as a framework to theorize “the spirit” in the alternative food and sustainable agriculture movement. I argue that Black liberation is a grounded vantage point to understand how some Black people might find freedom through food and agriculture. In the first potion of the paper, I make a claim for the importance of studying spirituality in agricultural and food spaces. The bulk of my talk will be spent teasing out what I believe to be key connections between Black liberation, food and agriculture including: a call for an urgent food source, liberation of the induvial Black body, community ownership of land, an emphasis on land reparations, and the freedom to dream. I conclude with a call for why an attention to Black liberation theology is called for in our present moment when food injustice, and racial and social injustices continue to collide.
NOTE: The event listing has been corrected to Wednesday, October 28.