confronting settler colonialism in food movements
abstract
the dominant global capitalist food system is contributing significantly to social, political,
ecological, and economic crises around the world. in response, food movements have emerged to
challenge the legitimacy of corporate power, neoliberal trade policies, and the exploitation of
people and natural resources. despite important accomplishments, food movements have been
criticized for reinforcing aspects of the dominant food system. this includes settler colonialism,
a fundamental issue uniquely and intimately tied to food systems that has not received the
attention it deserves in food movement scholarship or practice. while there is a small but
growing body of literature that speaks to settler colonialism in contemporary food movements
and a burgeoning scholarship on indigenous food sovereignties, there are few studies that
examine practical examples of how settler colonialism is being actively addressed by and
through food movement organizations. this research asks: how are food movement
organizations addressing settler colonialism? using a community-based methodology informed
by settler colonial theory/studies, anti-colonial and decolonizing approaches, and food
sovereignty, research partnerships were formed with two food systems networks, the thunder
bay and area food strategy and sustain: the australian food network. purposeful sampling
was used to conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 23 settlers and 4 indigenous
participants in northwestern ontario, canada, and australia (victoria, south australia, and
western australia). findings from thematic analysis are presented in three parts: 1) settler
inaction; 2) problematic inclusion; and, 3) productive engagements, organizational
commitments, and long-term visions. based on these findings, three areas are proposed where
food movement organizations can more deeply engage in addressing settler colonialism:
situating our(settler)selves, (re)negotiating relationships, and making organizational
commitment. several broad methodological limitations of this research are considered,
underscoring the need for additional place-based research that traces anti-colonial and
decolonizing food movement processes and holds them up to the dreams and demands of specific
indigenous communities whose lands they occupy.