One bad apple: Black women, the Anthropocene and the hypocrisy in food conversations

abstract

Farmer’s markets are ubiquitous on United States (US) landscapes, regardless of region and locale. And while there has been some scholarship about these spaces in the last several years, there is more that can be said regarding the inconsistencies between what many market organisers espouse and the realities for many Black customers. Many Black market-goers attend these outdoor shops but seldom see vendors that look like them, or worse, often, these sellers are denied a space at these markets. While many of these market organisers are advocates for “healthy eating” and fresh vegetables and fruits, they tend not to make it easy to access these nutrients, despite what they may intend. These contradictions emerge in debates surrounding the Anthropocene, which philosopher Axelle Karera (2019, p. 32) argues powerfully disavows the presence of racial aggression. Further, she maintains that the Anthropocene will never be successful until it grapples with the realities of Black suffering, in history and the present. This article considers these contradictions to think about how the realities of the lives of US Black people from throughout the African Diaspora are glossed over, sacrificed at the altar of “healthy eating” and “home cooking” with little regard for the ways we are dehumanised daily, including with food. By taking a womanist liberatory position, this article argues for centring the experiences of Black people in confronting the hypocrisies created by many of our contemporary food discussions.

keywords:

• foodways
• Blackness
• United States
• farmer's markets

Notes

1 A United States farmer’s market that has over 20 vendors but only one or two Black Farmers, though there are over 50 in the state, is not practicing food justice or contributing to an equitable food system. This is part of the hypocrisy of the US food scene. Farmer’s markets in the US are highly politicised and racialised spaces, though they often market themselves as neutral or progressive. Valentine Cadieux and Rachel Slocum (see their 2015 edited volume) were among the first to point out this problem, as well as Julie Guthman (see Guthman 2008) and Alison Hope Alkon (see for example Alkon 2012). The specific examples used here refer to incidents in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. One of these markets is well-covered in the article ‘Largest D.C. Farmer’s Market Repeatedly Denied Spots to Black Vendors, Farmers Allege’, by Jenny Splitter, Forbes.com, June 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysplitter/2020/06/14/racism-dc-largest-farmers-market/?sh = 6b3b2872575b (accessed 13 February 2022); and, by Emily Davies, ‘Dupont Circle Farmers Market Adds New Vendors After Black Businesses Said They Were Denied Access Because Of Race’, in the WashingtonPost.com, 26 June 2020, https://wapo.st/41yAvcM (accessed 13 February 2022).

2 https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dcpuddin/ (accessed 23 January 2022).

3 https://www.freshfarm.org/ (accessed 23 January 2022).

4 The name given to Washington DC, the first large city in the US to be home to a majority Black population.

5 Duke Sanford World Food Policy Center, ‘Gentrification & the Future of Food Justice (2000-2020)’, https://wfpc.sanford.duke.edu/north-carolina/durham-food-history/gentrification-the-future-of-food-justice-2000-2020/ (accessed 23 January 2022).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Psyche Williams-Forson

PSYCHE WILLIAMS-FORSON is a Professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She is the author of Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America (UNC Press 2022); Taking Food Public: Redefining Food in a Changing World, a co-edited collection (Routledge 2013); and the award-winning Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power (UNC Press 2006). Email: [email protected]