Can Food Justice be Raceless?: Reflections on the GROW Campaign's Incorporation of Food Justice into their Praxis

Abstract

Previous research around food justice primarily examines grassroots community efforts in the United States to address issues of inequitable food access and hunger through challenging institutional racism in local food systems (Agyeman and Alkon, 2012). Using a case study of GROW, a food justice campaign from development organization Oxfam International, this research discusses the ways that international development organizations adopt food justice principles into anti-hunger activities. I apply frameworks of food justice, critical race theory, intersectionality theory, critical geographic development studies, and neoliberalism philosophy to support my findings. I argue that race is absent in Oxfam’s application and conceptualization of food justice, and this absence undermines their work in producing solutions to the structural problems of hunger. My findings conclude that this campaign lacks a challenge to capitalistic solutions and focus on people-driven change. This research provides insight to strengthen NGO strategies and programs to better respond global food injustice.