Kristin Reynolds | The New School University (original) (raw)
Papers by Kristin Reynolds
Human Geography, 2020
Radical geography research, teaching, and action have increasingly focused on food systems, exami... more Radical geography research, teaching, and action have increasingly focused on food systems, examining the scalar, sociopolitical, and ecological dynamics of food production and harvesting, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste. While academics have contributed significantly to these debates, the success and progress of this scholarship cannot be separated from the work of practitioners and activists involved in food justice and food sovereignty movements. This paper draws together the voices of scholars and activists to explore how collaborations can productively build the evolving field of radical food geography and contribute to more equitable and sustainable food systems for all. These perspectives provide important insight but also push the boundaries of what is typically considered scholarship and the potential for impacts at the levels of theory and practice. Reflecting on the intersecting fields of radical geography and food studies scholarship and the contribution...
Community–academic collaborations that value experience-based knowledge alongside institutional w... more Community–academic collaborations that value experience-based knowledge alongside institutional ways of knowing have long been of interest in geography. In 1984, Harvey proposed a “peoples’ geography” that would integrate nonacademic knowledge into the field, increasing geography’s potential to help create a just world. Recent community–academic food justice collaborations have taken up this proposition through initiatives addressing issues from food access to dismantling racism, suggesting possibilities for a “peoples’ food justice geography.” Grant funding is often necessary for such work and might allow for more equitable participation or increase project reach but can necessitate redistribution of time spent on project activities, reinforce hierarchies, or be counterproductive to systemic change. If funding for community–academic food justice collaborations is to help create an inclusive and nonelitist geographic praxis, deeper understanding of its effects is essential. This art...
Human Geography
Food justice scholarship and activism have coevolved and at times been intertwined over past deca... more Food justice scholarship and activism have coevolved and at times been intertwined over past decades. In some instances, there are clear distinctions between “scholarly” and “activist” activities. However, individuals, groups, and actions often take on characteristics of both, producing knowledge at multiple sociopolitical scales. Recognizing and building upon these dynamics is important for strengthening food justice work. This is especially salient in an era in which academia, including geography, seeks more public engagement, yet has a complicated history of appropriating and/or dismissing experience-based knowledge, exacerbating uneven power-knowledge dynamics. These topics are of direct relevance to geography and intersect with radical geography traditions through engagement in social and political action and putting socio-spatial justice theory into practice. Since 2014, a small-but-growing group of individuals interested in the intersections between scholarship, activism, and...
Human Geography
Radical geographies scholarship has evolved over the past decades in pursuit of transforming spat... more Radical geographies scholarship has evolved over the past decades in pursuit of transforming spatial, political-economic, social, and ecological engagements within oppressive structures. Similarly, food systems scholarship demonstrates increasing interest in the scalar, sociopolitical, and ecological dynamics of food systems, often with an applied or action-oriented focus. Building on these connected, yet divergent, traditions of scholarship and action, we propose a radical food geography praxis that is rooted in the intersections of active resistance to structures that (re)produce power inequity and oppression in food systems in specific places and across spaces, and an ongoing process of critical and theoretical reflection about these structures and geographies. The radical food geography praxis we propose consists of three primary and interconnected elements: (1) theoretical engagements with power and structures of oppression both inside and outside the academy; (2) action throug...
The AAG Review of Books, 2016
This review forum is the outcome of an authors-meetcritics session at the 2016 American Associati... more This review forum is the outcome of an authors-meetcritics session at the 2016 American Association of Geographers conference in San Francisco, California. Authors Kristin Reynolds and Nevin Cohen invited a group of scholars and activists whose work addresses race, class, social justice, and urban food systems to review and discuss their new book Beyond the Kale. The critics' written commentaries are followed by Reynolds and Cohen's response. The authors are grateful for the thoughtful feedback the reviewers have provided. Urban agriculture is an increasingly popular focal point for food activists, public health professionals, policymakers, urban planners, as well as members of the foodfascinated culture at large. Given this transdisciplinary and popular interest, many voices have contributed to the understanding of what urban agriculture continues to evolve to be and the potential contributions it makes to urban life and food systems. Beyond the Kale is a work of activist scholarship that adds to this growing discourse, while exploring the radical potential of urban agriculture in New York City. This text extends beyond the popular representations that tend to overly identify urban agriculture as a hip and innovative movement propagated mainly by people who can be identified as young, white, educated, and middle-class, endeavoring on a noble yet trendy journey to challenge the conventional food system. Rather, this work focuses on projects led by people of color, working-class people, and women, demonstrating how urban agriculture can work toward dismantling various forms of oppression, such as structural racism, sexism, and political disenfranchisement, to achieve a more socially just food and environmental system(s).
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2011
Journal of Planning Education and Research, 2014
U.S. cities have implemented policies to support urban agriculture (UA), often developed in “new ... more U.S. cities have implemented policies to support urban agriculture (UA), often developed in “new political spaces” formed when conventional policy mechanisms are unable to resolve municipal problems. This article examines these processes in New York City, particularly aspects of UA that existing policies, plans, and research strategies have not fully addressed. Interviews with UA stakeholders and an analysis of the city’s UA policy-making processes show that resource needs, along with race- and class-based disparities within the UA system remain. We recommend several policy and research strategies for creating a more participatory, representative, and multifunctional UA system.
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2014
Many urban agriculture programs, and the organizations that run them, require substantial resourc... more Many urban agriculture programs, and the organizations that run them, require substantial resources to remain viable and provide the multifunctional benefits that practitioners and supporters hope to achieve. As urban agriculture activity expands, practitioners and supporters face significant challenges, including how to match resources to the needs of practitioners and expectations of municipalities, and how to distribute those resources effectively and equitably so that communities, and the city as a whole, capture the benefits of these projects. This is particularly important as cities face increasing pressure to reduce costs and maximize the return on public expenditures. A 2-year study calledFive Borough Farmdocumented the goals and objectives of urban agriculture projects in New York City and the resources for their success. The data showed that resource needs go beyond the material and financial needs discussed in the urban agriculture literature (e.g., land, soil, money). In...
Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies
Agriculture and Human Values
In this discussion piece, eight scholars in geography, urban planning, and agri-food studies from... more In this discussion piece, eight scholars in geography, urban planning, and agri-food studies from the United States (US) and France engage in a bi-national comparison to deepen our collective understanding of food and land justice. We specifically contextualize land justice as a critical component of food justice in both the US and France in three key areas: access to land for cultivation, urban agriculture, and non-agricultural forms of food provisioning. The US and France are interesting cases to compare, considering the differences and similarities in their colonial and agricultural histories, persistent and systemic race and class-based inequities in land access, and the roles of public bodies and social movements. In this paper, we synthesize literature, share reflections, and offer directions for future scholarship, including a broader comparative research agenda. An important difference we found is in the degree of scholarly attention to race and how it mediates access to land. We also observe that few scholars articulate a clear definition of justice in their work, nor do they share a common justice framework. We hope that this paper contributes to a more robust food and land justice framework for the use of scholars, practitioners and activists.
International Journal of Food Design
Stress is something that everyone has experienced, and may need no further explanation in terms o... more Stress is something that everyone has experienced, and may need no further explanation in terms of what stress is. However, there are different types of stress, and each can affect daily life in different ways.
Human Geography, 2020
Radical geography research, teaching, and action have increasingly focused on food systems, exami... more Radical geography research, teaching, and action have increasingly focused on food systems, examining the scalar, sociopolitical, and ecological dynamics of food production and harvesting, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste. While academics have contributed significantly to these debates, the success and progress of this scholarship cannot be separated from the work of practitioners and activists involved in food justice and food sovereignty movements. This paper draws together the voices of scholars and activists to explore how collaborations can productively build the evolving field of radical food geography and contribute to more equitable and sustainable food systems for all. These perspectives provide important insight but also push the boundaries of what is typically considered scholarship and the potential for impacts at the levels of theory and practice. Reflecting on the intersecting fields of radical geography and food studies scholarship and the contribution...
Community–academic collaborations that value experience-based knowledge alongside institutional w... more Community–academic collaborations that value experience-based knowledge alongside institutional ways of knowing have long been of interest in geography. In 1984, Harvey proposed a “peoples’ geography” that would integrate nonacademic knowledge into the field, increasing geography’s potential to help create a just world. Recent community–academic food justice collaborations have taken up this proposition through initiatives addressing issues from food access to dismantling racism, suggesting possibilities for a “peoples’ food justice geography.” Grant funding is often necessary for such work and might allow for more equitable participation or increase project reach but can necessitate redistribution of time spent on project activities, reinforce hierarchies, or be counterproductive to systemic change. If funding for community–academic food justice collaborations is to help create an inclusive and nonelitist geographic praxis, deeper understanding of its effects is essential. This art...
Human Geography
Food justice scholarship and activism have coevolved and at times been intertwined over past deca... more Food justice scholarship and activism have coevolved and at times been intertwined over past decades. In some instances, there are clear distinctions between “scholarly” and “activist” activities. However, individuals, groups, and actions often take on characteristics of both, producing knowledge at multiple sociopolitical scales. Recognizing and building upon these dynamics is important for strengthening food justice work. This is especially salient in an era in which academia, including geography, seeks more public engagement, yet has a complicated history of appropriating and/or dismissing experience-based knowledge, exacerbating uneven power-knowledge dynamics. These topics are of direct relevance to geography and intersect with radical geography traditions through engagement in social and political action and putting socio-spatial justice theory into practice. Since 2014, a small-but-growing group of individuals interested in the intersections between scholarship, activism, and...
Human Geography
Radical geographies scholarship has evolved over the past decades in pursuit of transforming spat... more Radical geographies scholarship has evolved over the past decades in pursuit of transforming spatial, political-economic, social, and ecological engagements within oppressive structures. Similarly, food systems scholarship demonstrates increasing interest in the scalar, sociopolitical, and ecological dynamics of food systems, often with an applied or action-oriented focus. Building on these connected, yet divergent, traditions of scholarship and action, we propose a radical food geography praxis that is rooted in the intersections of active resistance to structures that (re)produce power inequity and oppression in food systems in specific places and across spaces, and an ongoing process of critical and theoretical reflection about these structures and geographies. The radical food geography praxis we propose consists of three primary and interconnected elements: (1) theoretical engagements with power and structures of oppression both inside and outside the academy; (2) action throug...
The AAG Review of Books, 2016
This review forum is the outcome of an authors-meetcritics session at the 2016 American Associati... more This review forum is the outcome of an authors-meetcritics session at the 2016 American Association of Geographers conference in San Francisco, California. Authors Kristin Reynolds and Nevin Cohen invited a group of scholars and activists whose work addresses race, class, social justice, and urban food systems to review and discuss their new book Beyond the Kale. The critics' written commentaries are followed by Reynolds and Cohen's response. The authors are grateful for the thoughtful feedback the reviewers have provided. Urban agriculture is an increasingly popular focal point for food activists, public health professionals, policymakers, urban planners, as well as members of the foodfascinated culture at large. Given this transdisciplinary and popular interest, many voices have contributed to the understanding of what urban agriculture continues to evolve to be and the potential contributions it makes to urban life and food systems. Beyond the Kale is a work of activist scholarship that adds to this growing discourse, while exploring the radical potential of urban agriculture in New York City. This text extends beyond the popular representations that tend to overly identify urban agriculture as a hip and innovative movement propagated mainly by people who can be identified as young, white, educated, and middle-class, endeavoring on a noble yet trendy journey to challenge the conventional food system. Rather, this work focuses on projects led by people of color, working-class people, and women, demonstrating how urban agriculture can work toward dismantling various forms of oppression, such as structural racism, sexism, and political disenfranchisement, to achieve a more socially just food and environmental system(s).
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2011
Journal of Planning Education and Research, 2014
U.S. cities have implemented policies to support urban agriculture (UA), often developed in “new ... more U.S. cities have implemented policies to support urban agriculture (UA), often developed in “new political spaces” formed when conventional policy mechanisms are unable to resolve municipal problems. This article examines these processes in New York City, particularly aspects of UA that existing policies, plans, and research strategies have not fully addressed. Interviews with UA stakeholders and an analysis of the city’s UA policy-making processes show that resource needs, along with race- and class-based disparities within the UA system remain. We recommend several policy and research strategies for creating a more participatory, representative, and multifunctional UA system.
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2014
Many urban agriculture programs, and the organizations that run them, require substantial resourc... more Many urban agriculture programs, and the organizations that run them, require substantial resources to remain viable and provide the multifunctional benefits that practitioners and supporters hope to achieve. As urban agriculture activity expands, practitioners and supporters face significant challenges, including how to match resources to the needs of practitioners and expectations of municipalities, and how to distribute those resources effectively and equitably so that communities, and the city as a whole, capture the benefits of these projects. This is particularly important as cities face increasing pressure to reduce costs and maximize the return on public expenditures. A 2-year study calledFive Borough Farmdocumented the goals and objectives of urban agriculture projects in New York City and the resources for their success. The data showed that resource needs go beyond the material and financial needs discussed in the urban agriculture literature (e.g., land, soil, money). In...
Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies
Agriculture and Human Values
In this discussion piece, eight scholars in geography, urban planning, and agri-food studies from... more In this discussion piece, eight scholars in geography, urban planning, and agri-food studies from the United States (US) and France engage in a bi-national comparison to deepen our collective understanding of food and land justice. We specifically contextualize land justice as a critical component of food justice in both the US and France in three key areas: access to land for cultivation, urban agriculture, and non-agricultural forms of food provisioning. The US and France are interesting cases to compare, considering the differences and similarities in their colonial and agricultural histories, persistent and systemic race and class-based inequities in land access, and the roles of public bodies and social movements. In this paper, we synthesize literature, share reflections, and offer directions for future scholarship, including a broader comparative research agenda. An important difference we found is in the degree of scholarly attention to race and how it mediates access to land. We also observe that few scholars articulate a clear definition of justice in their work, nor do they share a common justice framework. We hope that this paper contributes to a more robust food and land justice framework for the use of scholars, practitioners and activists.
International Journal of Food Design
Stress is something that everyone has experienced, and may need no further explanation in terms o... more Stress is something that everyone has experienced, and may need no further explanation in terms of what stress is. However, there are different types of stress, and each can affect daily life in different ways.
Urban agriculture is increasingly considered an important part of creating just and sustainable c... more Urban agriculture is increasingly considered an important part of creating just and sustainable cities. Yet the benefits that many people attribute to urban agriculture—fresh food, green space, educational opportunities—can mask structural inequities,thereby making political transformation harder to achieve. Realizing social and environmental justice requires moving beyond food production to address deeper issues such as structural racism, gender inequity, and economic disparities. Beyond the Kale argues that urban agricultural projects focused explicitly on dismantling oppressive systems have the greatest potential to achieve substantive social change.
Through in-depth interviews and public forums with some of New York City’s most prominent urban agriculture activists and supporters, Kristin Reynolds and Nevin Cohen illustrate how some urban farmers and gardeners not only grow healthy food for their communities but also use their activities and spaces to disrupt the dynamics of power and privilege that perpetuate inequity. Addressing a significant gap in the urban agriculture literature, Beyond the Kale prioritizes the voices of people of color and women—activists and leaders whose strategies have often been underrepresented within the urban agriculture movement—and it examines the roles of scholarship in advancing social justice initiatives.
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