Leda Cooks | University of Massachusetts Amherst (original) (raw)

Papers by Leda Cooks

Food Studies: Matter, Meaning & Movement, 2022

Gastronomica, 2021

Before the COVID-19 pandemic it was widely reported that, in the United States, over 40 percent o... more Before the COVID-19 pandemic it was widely reported that, in the United States, over 40 percent of food produced was wasted During the pandemic, news reports have described unprecedented household food waste, up by 30 percent according to Republic Services, one of the largest waste management services in the US (Helmer 2020) But upstream, food waste was, and continues to be, equally problematic When institutions such as schools and universities, large businesses, restaurants, and other venues must shut down, so too must the food supply chain for those locations Farmers who produce food for large-scale public use have been unable to redirect their products for grocery markets, and so in many cases their harvests and dairy cannot be used Elsewhere along the chain, farm and other food laborers (e g , meat-packing workers, delivery workers) without access to protection and health care cannot continue to pack and deliver food at "normal" levels, and so potential food has been l...

Electronic Journal of …, 2003

... women who participate there. Importantly, both Ashcraft (2001) and Adams (2001) place emphasi... more ... women who participate there. Importantly, both Ashcraft (2001) and Adams (2001) place emphasis on the resonance between ideology and practice without forsaking the creativity and agency that arises from human interaction. ...

Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 2014

An intersection of power, privilege, and injustice in community service-learning (CSL) pedagogy i... more An intersection of power, privilege, and injustice in community service-learning (CSL) pedagogy is examined through the language used to describe relationships between college classroom and community site participants. This article extends work on deficit and asset-based discourse to address critical race theory, critical pedagogy, and whiteness in a study of a university CSL partnership with an under-resourced public middle school in Western Massachusetts. Using critical race theory, appreciative inquiry, and situated learning theory, the instructors re-framed talk of education for dominant and non-dominant ethnic group participants as sites of contestation over the meaning of difference. The article demonstrates how increased cultural competencies could be learned as a result of improved intergroup understanding, interaction, and dialogue. It suggests new directions for a CSL pedagogy that moves from deficit- to asset-based discourse and the ways such meanings are formed in relati...

The International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008

In our semester original teaching idea, we detail possibilities of resistance to the neoliberal u... more In our semester original teaching idea, we detail possibilities of resistance to the neoliberal university by considering tribal critical race theory and postsocialist feminism as frames for decolonization. The semester takes shape by focusing on foundational readings to bridge decolonial and postsocialist thought as the basis for dialogue about neoliberalism as it manifests imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy in our universities. Focusing on property ownership as a discursive link between neoliberalism, decolonization, and postsocialism, we ask students to theorize/analyze how ownership of property and communication of that ownership maintains, extends, and resists colonial, liberal, and capital forms of power in the institution. We anchor our theoretical application by presenting students with a case study about the indigenous lands upon which our universities are built/occupy accompanied by a discussion about university “ownership” of ancestral remains and sacred ...

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2018

Abstract Whiteness and nationalism underlie configurations of race globally, yet “race” is often ... more Abstract Whiteness and nationalism underlie configurations of race globally, yet “race” is often recognized and performed as hierarchies of ethnicity in nations where skin color is not optically differentiated. This paper examines this phenomenon in the former Yugoslavia in order both to contextualize these shifting dynamics of power as well as to theorize how postsocialism and postcolonialism might figure into the construction of ethnicity as the primary marker of difference. Our central concern is how these constructions and performances of ethnicity, in turn, impact the ways we might study interracial communication nationally and globally. In other words, we analyze the racialization of identity in a space without bodies of color in order to ask what is or can be interracial? How might such analysis posit possibilities for interrupting power in transnational and global contexts? Drawing on the Bosnian genocide and experiences from living in the former Yugoslavia, we point to a few contexts to ground the discussion. We draw parallels between the former Yugoslavia and the US to analyze how interracial communication travels, often violently, across borders. We argue that critical analysis of the manifestation of race on bodies is integral to resisting the precarious effects of global capitalism.

Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2019

In this essay, we theorize and analyze (some of) the intercultural and intersecting structures th... more In this essay, we theorize and analyze (some of) the intercultural and intersecting structures that undergird rape and its representation in #MeToo via testimonial examples from rape survivors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). While we recognize the importance of the ICTY’s ruling and of #MeToo, we remain critical of the conditions that necessitated them and that continue to mark women’s bodies as vulnerable. Utilizing both postsocialist and postcolonial feminist theory as a lens, we specifically look to how bodies are articulated both as capital/property and, in the same international judicial frame, vessels for punishment and justice. We focus on how the ICTY defined justice for rape on a mediated international stage, how identities and cultures were situated discursively in the trial, and the implications for thinking through justice for intersectionality in #MeToo. Our claim is that the symbolic and material equation of women/women’s bodies...

Communication Studies, 2018

This article argues for postsocialism as an added consideration to postcolonial theory in analyzi... more This article argues for postsocialism as an added consideration to postcolonial theory in analyzing and enacting intercultural and international relations of/for social justice. We theorize the need for feminist and communication studies of rape and sexual assault that consider how rape occurs in relation to institutions, bodies, and times that offer varying positions and possibilities to different identities, cultures, and groups. Our study of an international rape trial asks how survivors of rape can have their experiences validated in androcentric international judicial systems. Theorizing Yugoslavia through the prism of rape, we center our analysis on women as property. Utilizing concepts of relationality and performativity, we imagine how the temporal, cultural, and geographic positionalities of women's experiences of rape can critique patriarchy and global capitalism.

Academic Exchange Quarterly, Mar 22, 2004

Abstract A description of a short curriculum on the topic of media violence and interpersonal con... more Abstract A description of a short curriculum on the topic of media violence and interpersonal conflict is provided in relationship to a number of expressed goals. College students worked in groups to develop and present the curriculum to local sixth-grade classes, including discussion questions, role-playing, and a video production exercise. The results of two means of assessment are discussed, a comparison of pre- and post-program responses to a series of open-ended questions and analyses of a television program clip. Introduction After much disagreement, scholars and practitioners have agreed to define media literacy as the ability to analyze, access, and evaluate media in a variety of forms (Aufderheide, 1997). Media literacy, then, includes the study of media, their characteristics as well as their relationships to both audiences and other social forces, and the development of media use skills. A small set of guiding principles has also been derived (Aufderheide, 1997). These include the notion that media construct and are constructions of reality, that media contain embedded values, that different audience members respond differently to media, that media operate with a commercial imperative, and that each medium has its own codes, conventions, and aesthetics. These principles of media literacy--in addition to a desire to bridge media analysis with real-world social interactions--form the foundation on which our case study is based. The Media Literacy and Violence Prevention Project In Spring 2003, the Media Literacy and Violence Prevention Project (MLVPP) was conducted. Twenty university students, who received an extra Community Service Learning credit, met weekly to design and discuss curricular materials before implementing a conflict resolution and media literacy program in five sixth-grade classrooms. [1] University students in teams of four made six one-hour visits to the classrooms, with ninety sixth-grade students participating. A reading packet, together with a composite tape of video clips from TV programs, video games, and films, was created to guide discussion. The curriculum covered two intertwined elements. The section on interpersonal conflict resolution asked the sixth graders to think of ways of defining and dealing with real conflicts that surface in their everyday lives. Two ways for resolving conflicts that are appropriate for this age group, the LTA and the lens models (Wilmot & Hocker, 2000), were introduced. LTA stood for listen to the other party when in conflict, think about points of view, options, consequences, and then act. The lens model suggests that people in conflict should consider one another's perspective. Students were asked to think of non-violent and realistic ways to solve the conflicts they saw in the selection of video clips as well those they experienced in their daily lives. They contrasted the ways that conflicts are resolved in media with the ways that real conflicts play out. The section on media violence focused on ways of depicting violence in the media and how audiences may respond. Four features identified by Wilson and colleagues (1996) as those that increase the likelihood of developing favorable attitudes about aggression were introduced. These features are: violence that is rewarded, violence that is justified, violence perpetrated by appealing characters, and violence without consequences. Each feature was defined in the reading packet, discussed, and identified in the clips. Students were encouraged to see that not all ways of depicting violence send a favorable message about aggression and that creators of television programs have a host of choices about how to tell a story. Finally, a video production element was also included in this curriculum. The sixth graders were trained to use a video camera to create a skit. Each group wrote, assigned parts, and acted out a non-violent resolution to a conflict that they had experienced. …

Negotiation Journal, 1995

Communication Theory, 2001

Text and Performance Quarterly, 2012

ABSTRACT

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture