The growth of the organic and local foods sector is usually praised as a cultural revolution with positive repercussions for the planet and public health.
But Courtney Thorsson, an assistant professor of English specializing in African-American literature, notes that the public face of the organic movement is largely white and middle class. In this sense, she views the movement as a trend that underscores race and class disparities when it comes to access to healthy foods.
Thorsson makes this critique, not as a condemnation, but to illustrate that our approaches to procuring, preparing and consuming food speak volumes about who we are and where we come from.
To explore the role food has played in the history and culture of African Americans, Thorsson is working on a book about the role of culinary discourse in African-American literature.
“For many African-American women, the kitchen has been an enormous space of resistance and power,” said Thorsson. “Scenes of cooking and eating in literature can record and convey that history.”
In addition to her upcoming book on the subject, Thorsson teaches the graduate seminar, African-American Foodways. One of the key themes in the class is the relationship of food writing to twentieth- century movements such as black arts (the artistic branch of the black power movement), Black Nationalism and feminism.
Right: Lucille Clifton, “aunt jemima” from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton. Copyright 2008 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company Inc. on behalf of BOA Editions Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.
While reviled as a people, the Roma of Eastern Europe are revered for their music.
