Article
Class Conscious, Color-Blind: Examining the Dynamics of Food Access and the Justice Potential of Farmers Markets
Katherine Lambert-Pennington,
Kathryn Hicks,
Katherine Lambert-Pennington
Katherine Lambert-Pennington is an associate professor with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. Her areas of interest include race and social inequality, community development, urban governance, participatory action research in the United States, and urban Indigenous culture and identity in Australia.Search for more papers by this authorKathryn Hicks
Kathryn Hicks is an associate professor with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. Her research and teaching interests include medical and biological anthropology, developmental systems theory, political economy, and health inequalities in the United States and Bolivian Andes.Search for more papers by this authorKatherine Lambert-Pennington,
Kathryn Hicks,
Katherine Lambert-Pennington
Katherine Lambert-Pennington is an associate professor with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. Her areas of interest include race and social inequality, community development, urban governance, participatory action research in the United States, and urban Indigenous culture and identity in Australia.Search for more papers by this authorKathryn Hicks
Kathryn Hicks is an associate professor with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. Her research and teaching interests include medical and biological anthropology, developmental systems theory, political economy, and health inequalities in the United States and Bolivian Andes.Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Although often intended to address injustices in food access, farmers markets tend to cater to affluent communities, and to exclude on the basis of race and class. One means of addressing this is federal subsidy programs, like the Senior Farmers Market Nutritional Program (SFMNP). We explore the dynamics of the SFMNP program in Memphis’ farmers market landscape in 2011. We examine the visible barriers experienced by SFMNP patrons to market access including delays in establishing the program in a largely African-American neighborhood, and the more subtle barriers such as perceptions of more affluent markets as white spaces. We then explore some successful efforts to make these issues visible and address them, including activism on the part of seniors and public dialog in social media. Despite this, we find that ongoing resistance to acknowledging farmers markets as spaces of racial inequality continues to challenge their food justice potential.
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