Uneven Resistance to Inequality in the Spaces of Food Labor and Urban Land Use Politics

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Uneven Resistance to Inequality in the Spaces of Food Labor and Urban Land Use Politics MAPPING POWER RELATIONS IN THE ALTERNATIVE FOOD MOVEMENT: UNEVEN RESISTANCE TO INEQUALITY IN THE SPACES OF FOOD LABOR AND URBAN LAND USE POLITICS By JOSHUA SBICCA A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2014 1 © 2014 Joshua Sbicca 2 For Jennifer and human flourishing 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is a collective product. While there were times when I felt like a lone wolf in the desert support in the form of critical feedback, encouragement, a hug, or a hot meal were readily and often supplied. In the first semester of graduate school, I took a seminar in Environmental Justice from Brian Mayer. Wanting to understand how people were fighting for environmental goods, I became enamored with the topic of food. No one in the department is a food scholar, but I received nothing but support from all those I encountered. Beginning with my master’s degree, Brian and Christine Overdevest were strong supporters of my work, and endorsed my qualitative project in the hopes this would feed into a dissertation. In addition, Stephen Perz always allowed my intellectual curiosities to guide me, partially because we share a wide view of environmentally related social science. Moreover, he offered regular constructive criticism and editing advice for my first two publications. I especially want to thank Whitney Sanford for requiring that we read Marx’s Ecology by John Bellamy Foster. This work proved to be a deep source of inspiration at a critical time in my graduate training. Katrina Schwartz turned me onto political ecology and its treasure trove of insights into human/nature relations. Given my focus on social movements and qualitative methods, Kendal Broad served as a wonderful guide into the complexities of capturing the ways in which humans collectively strive to change the world around them. I also want to thank many of the people at University of Florida for funding various steps of this dissertation research: the O. Ruth McQuown Scholarship, the McGinty Dissertation Fellowship, and the Dissertation Scholarship from UF Graduate School. A number of other people also need thanking. Chuck Gattone was always open for discussing theory, graduate school politics, and career trajectories, oftentimes over 4 beers and burritos at Boca Fiesta. Of special note is Barb Zsembik, who not only taught two of the most practical seminars I took in graduate school, focused on publishing and teaching, but also she proved to be a deep well of insight into the realities of academic life and a tireless career counselor. Other UF professors who helped me along the way include Connie Shehan, Monika Ardelt, and Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox. Over the years, a number of administrative staff made my life so much better, namely Donna Balkcom, Nadine Gills, Susan Ciccarone Spaulding, and Sheryl McIntosh. My fellow graduate student colleagues and friends made my experience memorable: Gina Alvarado, Dionne Banks, Georgia Bianchi, Luis Caraballo-Burgos, Robert Cavazos, Lisa Christiansen, Jeanne Collins, Lawrence Eppard, Rachel Hallum-Montes, Steve Jacobs, Ginger Jacobson, Meggan Jordan (GAU for life), Billy Jeffries (thanks for the advice to turn term papers into publications), Deeb Kitchen (inspiring teacher!), Laura Kowler, Kenzie Latham (thanks for being a model graduate student), Flavia Leite, Kevin Lynn, Katie Nutter (best desk buddy ever), Greg Pavella, Geo Perez, Tom Reynolds (punk!), Estelle Robichaux, and Orli Zaprir. Robert Perdue served as my partner in (academic) crime: I loved listening to Krishna Das, dodging owls on bikes, and rocking foosball at the Top, while at all times juggling conversations on our next manuscript, dissertation idea, or crazy life story. Of special note are a number of admirable scholars who embraced my work or offered me feedback and professional support: Ben Agger, Julian Agyeman, Allie Alkon, Brett Clark, David Featherstone, Bob Gottlieb, Jill Lindsey Harrison, Alfonso Morales, Nathan McClintock, and Tom Shriver. This dissertation would not be possible without the openhearted welcome I received from each organization I worked with. I especially want to express my gratitude 5 to the following: Mannah, Mel, Renae, Lisa, and Mindy at San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project; Gavin, Haleh, Andrew, Marcelo, and May at Planting Justice; and Rigo, Jean, Matt, Nam, Ron, and Armando at United Food and Commercial Workers 770. Many of your colleagues and comrades also inspired the direction of this dissertation. You are all on the frontlines of the battle to ensure human flourishing for those working in, and to improve, the food system. Solidarity! Without my parents encouraging me from a young age to read everything I could get my hands on, I would not be here. They were also an indispensable socializing power given their choice to homeschool me for a number of years. I guess all those independent study habits paid off! I also want to thank Jen for her ceaseless support, love, and affection. I know at times graduate school seemed like it would never end, but your patience and poise, particularly at the end, was invaluable. Thank you for joyfully reminding me to celebrate. I love you. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... 13 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 14 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 16 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 21 The Organization of Power in the Agrifood System ................................................ 21 Food Inequality Formation ...................................................................................... 23 Food Movements Rising ......................................................................................... 24 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................ 26 Research Objectives ............................................................................................... 27 Contributions of the Research ................................................................................ 27 Dissertation Outline ................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 4 .......................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 5 .......................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 6 .......................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 7 .......................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 8 .......................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 9 .......................................................................................................... 43 2 THEORY ................................................................................................................. 45 Socioecological Metabolisms and Metabolic Rifts in an Era of Neoliberalization .... 45 Theorizing the Metabolic Rift for Urban Food Based Struggles ........................ 46 Bringing Together Capital, the State and Identity through Neoliberalization .... 51 Histories and Spatialities of Institutional Power and Social Change ....................... 54 Contextualizing Power ...................................................................................... 56 The Spatialities of Multi-Institutional Politics ..................................................... 58 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 68 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 68 Research Methodology ........................................................................................... 70 7 Historical Comparative Methods ....................................................................... 73 Ethnographic Case Studies .............................................................................. 75 Research Sites ....................................................................................................... 76 Procedures of Data Collection and Analysis ........................................................... 81 Data Sources .................................................................................................... 82 Going through the Institutional Review Board ............................................ 82 Interviews ..................................................................................................
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