Politics of Food Access in Food Insecure Communities
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
POLITICS OF FOOD ACCESS IN FOOD INSECURE COMMUNITIES By Darcy A. Freedman Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSPHY in Community Research and Action August, 2008 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Paul W. Speer Professor Monica J. Casper Professor Kenneth A. Wallston Professor Craig Anne Heflinger Professor Marino A. Bruce To my mother and grandmothers, Donna Stayin Sens, Esther Feiner Freedman, and Viola Tomin Stayin. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Saying thank you and publicly acknowledging the myriad people involved with this research is humbling. Although I will try, words cannot express my gratitude for each of you. First and foremost, this research would not have occurred without the support of funding from the Baptist Health Trust, Vanderbilt Center for Community Studies, Vanderbilt Center for Ethics, and Global Feminisms Collaborative. Along with this financial support, I also received immeasurable amounts of wisdom, guidance and assistance from Sarah Bellos, Barbara Clinton, Royce Fentress, Kim Harrell, Cassi Johnson, Kate Lassiter, Jeff Middlebrooks, Mary Kate Mouser, Sharon Shields, and Bobby Lee Smith as well as from the directors and staff at the Boys and Girls Clubs. Thank you for your willingness and openness to work collaboratively as we transformed the Boys and Girls Clubs into farmers’ markets during the summer of 2007. An extra special thank you is extended to Shavaun Evans, Shacora Moore, and Courtney Williams, the research assistants on this project. Each of these individuals added to the dynamics of this research endeavor. Without one of them, the project would most certainly have ebbed and flowed differently. We spent many hours laboring together—physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually—and through this process my understandings of the politics of food access as well as my general sense of self were challenged and enriched. Thank you. Thank you. I would be remiss if I did not express special gratitude to all of the research participants involved in this project. In addition to teaching me much about food access, you also taught me how to make an oven roasted chicken, determine the freshness of a iii watermelon, and find the best food bargains in Nashville. These were just a few of the many unintended benefits of this research. I also wish to thank the children and youth involved with this research. This project would not have been the same, would not have been “this” project, without the involvement of the children and youth from the Boys and Girls Clubs. You were the highlights of the project. You embody the “discourse of possibility and resistance” I came to understand through this research. You are my hope for transformation and transgression. This research was also supported by my dissertation committee including Paul Speer, Craig Anne Heflinger, Ken Wallston, Monica Casper, and Marino Bruce. You allowed me to create my own box as I developed this research, never once limiting or constraining my process. At times you nudged and suggested movement in new directions but always left it up to me to explore how these new pathways diverged and converged with my understandings. I am also grateful to several others for their willingness to listen to and/or read earlier iterations of this work including members of the Global Feminisms Collaborative and my peers in the Center for Ethics Dissertation Writing Groups. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I wish to extend thanks to my family. You supported me throughout the ups and downs of dissertating. To my parents in particular, thank you for never saying no, for always letting the sky be the limit. And last but certainly not least, I wish to thank Heath Blackard, my friend and confidant. If anyone knows the trials and tribulations of this dissertation, it is you. You have been endlessly supportive and helpful. I love you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 Food Politics................................................................................................................2 Food and Power ......................................................................................................4 Food Insecurity in the United States .........................................................................5 Food Insecurity-Obesity Paradox .............................................................................7 Politics of Research .................................................................................................9 Framing Health..........................................................................................................11 Biomedical Model ..................................................................................................12 Population Health ..................................................................................................13 Critiques of Population Health ..............................................................................16 Activating Population Health.....................................................................................18 Constructing a New Theory-Methods Package.......................................................22 Praxis-oriented Research .......................................................................................23 Example of Praxis-oriented Research: A Dialogical Approach to Praxis ...............30 Materialist Praxis: A New Theory-Methods Package .................................................32 Three Propositions for the Employment of Materialist Praxis ................................33 Dissertation Chapters.................................................................................................38 II. METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................41 Genesis of Research Approach...................................................................................42 Research Question .....................................................................................................47 Action Component.....................................................................................................48 Farmers’ Markets ..................................................................................................48 Nutrition Education ...............................................................................................51 Research Component .................................................................................................52 Ethnographic Methods ...........................................................................................52 Food Store Audits ..................................................................................................58 Surveys ..................................................................................................................59 Human Subjects Research ......................................................................................63 Reflection Component ...............................................................................................64 v Semi-structured Focus Groups ...............................................................................64 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................67 Qualitative Analysis ...............................................................................................67 Quantitative Analysis .............................................................................................74 III. POLITICS OF SPACE ............................................................................................80 Food Maps.................................................................................................................82 Availability of Food Stores near Boys and Girls Clubs ...........................................82 Availability of Healthy and Unhealthy Products .....................................................86 Segregated Stores ..................................................................................................89 Good Food is Far Away...........................................................................................101 Convenience Stores: Convenient for Whom and for What? ...................................102 “You can’t even go buy an onion out of there…” .................................................104 Intersections ........................................................................................................105 Conclusion...............................................................................................................112 IV. PRODUCING PRODUCE.....................................................................................114 Produce Procurement...............................................................................................115 Market Set-up..........................................................................................................121