Race, culture, and practice: segregation and local food in Birmingham, Alabama

Abstract

In this study, we use a combination of geographic information systems and Bourdieuan social theory to analyze the development of a food policy council in Birmingham, Alabama. The questions we investigate are: What is the relationship between race and culture? How is this relationship manifest in practice within the alternative food and agriculture movement? In our work, we show how the racially segregated conditions of metropolitan Birmingham forge divergent habitus among Blacks and Whites in the region. Consequently, Whites have difficulty producing practices and interpretations of those practices that Blacks can recognize as legitimate, and vice versa. As a result, the food policy council emerges from and remains trapped within a space of Whiteness, and few Blacks serve on the council or participate in its production.

Keywords:

• alternative agriculture
• habitus
• GIS
• segregation

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Joshua Inwood, Robyn Hyden, Carolyn Finney, Cassie Donish, Jeff Romm, Louise Fortmann, and Nathan Sayre.