Assemblage, food justice, and intersectionality in rural Mississippi: the Oktibbeha Food Policy Council

Abstract

Oktibbeha County (Mississippi) is among the highest food cost and food insecure counties in the nation. In 2016, a group of scholars from a land-grant university held periodic meetings to address food insecurity, food access, and local food systems development, creating the Oktibbeha Food Policy Council (OFPC). A large body of literature on food justice, intersectionality, food policy councils, and agri-environmental assemblage highlights the importance of these types of collaborative initiatives to facilitate better availability and access to fresh and healthy food among historically marginalized groups. However, little has been studied on how food policy councils can be generated and evolve in historically marginalized rural communities of the South. By analyzing the OFPC, this paper aims to contribute to this gap in the existing literature, exploring what factors led to its creation and development. Results of this study show how food justice and the intersection of race and socioeconomic status with local agri-food problems influenced the assemblage and work of this group, creating new opportunities, for low-income families and limited resource Black farmers. Discussions and conclusions center on the lessons, opportunities, and challenges learned from this experience and critical aspects that may be contemplated by similar initiatives and contexts.

Correction Statement

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Notes on contributors

Diego Thompson

Diego Thompson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. His research has focused on minority groups in agri-food systems and community perceptions and adaptations to agri-environmental challenges in the U.S. and Latin America. Dr. Thompson serves as a board member of the Mississippi Food Policy Council and the Racial Equity in Food Systems Working Group organized by Michigan State University.

Kecia R. Johnson

Kecia R. Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on issues related to the collateral consequences of incarceration, prisoner reentry, women’s imprisonment and racial disparities and crime. Dr. Johnson is the co-director of the Mississippi Food Insecurity Project, which is an interdisciplinary research team that examines food insecurity across the state and works with communities to address issues pertaining to food insecurity and food access. As a result of this work, Dr. Johnson has developed an interest in how food insecurity affects formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. Her research has appeared in publications such as the American Journal of Sociology, Youth & Society, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Social Science & Medicine.

Kenya M. Cistrunk

Kenya M. Cistrunk is an Associate Professor of Social Work and Program Director. Prior to teaching, she worked for a number of years serving clients in various community agencies and within university housing. Dr. Cistrunk is a 1997 graduate of the Mississippi State University Social Work Program, where she earned her B.S.W. degree. In 2000, she earned her M.S.W. degree from The University of Alabama. Finally, she earned a Ph.D. in adult education from the University of Georgia in 2013. Dr. Cistrunk is co-director of the Mississippi Food Insecurity Project.

Ashley Vancil-Leap

Ashley Vancil-Leap joined the Mississippi State faculty as an Instructor in 2016 after receiving her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri. She is a gender scholar who focuses on the links between culture, identity, labor, food insecurity, and inequalities such as race and class. Her latest work examined the physical and emotional labor of school food service employees in a Midwest city in response to local, state, and national policy changes to school breakfast and lunch programs. Her work can be seen in Advances in Gender Research and Gender Issues.

Thomas Nyatta

Thomas Nyatta specializes in Agriculture and Natural resource with more than 6 years’ experience. His work entails assisting the community adopt research-based information, educational programs, and technology transfer focused on issues and needs of the people, enabling them to make informed decisions about their economic, social, and cultural well-being. Thomas volunteers in Prisons with the Salt and Light organization in the USA and through AMUSHA Africa Foundation reach the disadvantaged communities in Tanzania through religious groups by providing leadership training, entrepreneurship training and training on how to start small business enterprises as a way to eliminate poverty.

Leslie Hossfeld

Leslie Hossfeld, Ph.D., is dean of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences at Clemson University. Prior to her appointment as dean, she was professor and head of the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University, where she also served as founding director of the Mississippi Food Insecurity Program, co-founder of the Oktibbeha Food Policy Council, and on the board of the Mississippi Food Policy Council. Dr. Hossfeld has extensive experience examining rural poverty and economic restructuring and has made two presentations to the U.S. Congress and one to the North Carolina legislature on job loss and rural economic decline. She has worked extensively on economic recovery projects for rural North Carolina counties. Hossfeld is co-chair of the USDA SERA 47 Southern Region Extension and Research System to Support Local and Regional Food Needs and Priorities Learning Community and on the multistate Research Coordinating Committee. Dr. Hossfeld has managed large-scale research and programmatic initiatives focused on rural economic development in high poverty counties. Her current activities focus on food systems research and initiatives involving nutrition, malnutrition (obesity), health outcomes and health disparities, to develop policy coherence linking health and agriculture policy.

Gina Rico Méndez

Gina Rico Méndez, Ph.D., is the Developmental Evaluator for the USAID-funded Complexity-Aware Monitoring and Evaluation (C-AME) in Colombia. She has more than ten years of experience working with communities, public organizations, and academic institutions in Colombia and the United States. Prior to joining DI, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mississippi State University-Social Science Research Center, where she engaged in multiple research and evaluation endeavors related to rural development and food security. Dr. Rico Méndez received a B.A. in Political Science and a M.A. in Habitat (Human Settlement Studies) from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She completed her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration at Mississippi State University under a Fulbright scholarship. She is a native Spanish speaker and speaks fluent English and basic French.

Claudette Jones

Claudette Jones provides technical assistance to Mississippi communities, as a Stennis Institute Research Associate. Service areas include: comparative salary surveys; independent research and writing on food insecurity, food systems development, and local economic/community development; and research and writing on the issues and impacts of Baby Boomer retirement. Jones' career spans more than 35 years in media, public relations, and marketing, with a concentration in the built industry. As both a staff person and small business owner, (Woman-owned Business Enterprise [WBE]), she has marketed professional services to municipalities, counties, transportation authorities, and state and federal agencies. Marketing management and consulting experience in several business sectors includes: Engineering environmental, civil (site, transportation and aviation), structural, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP); Architecture commercial and residential development, assisted living and healthcare, education, corrections, and landscape architecture; Construction commercial, healthcare, and residential development; Military marketing support for U.S. Air Force aeropropulsion, aerodynamic ground testing, and environmental projects including the remediation of a landfill site impacting groundwater; and Real Estate property listing, client relations, and advertising. She is a licensed realtor in the State of Tennessee, and holds paralegal certification. Jones holds a M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from Jackson State University (JSU); a MPPA and GIS certification from Mississippi State University; a MFA from the University of Cincinnati; and a BFA from Middle Tennessee State University. As an ABD Ph.D. candidate at JSU in Urban and Regional Planning, Jones submitted her community/workforce development focused dissertation draft, New Millennium Motor Cities: Lessons Learned from the Rural Automobile Communities of Mississippi and Tennessee. She completed the nationally recognized University of Central Arkansas’ Community Development Institute three-year training program for community development, and holds the Professional Community and Economic Developer (PCED) certification.