This book provides a comprehensive overview of the production and consumption of food, suitable for use in undergraduate classrooms, either at the intermediate or advanced level.
It takes an intersectional approach to difference and power and approaches standard subjects in the geography of food with a fresh perspective focusing on inequality, uneven production and legacies of colonialism. The book also focuses on places and regions often overlooked in conventional narratives, such as the Americas in the domestication of plants. The topics covered in the textbook include:
- descriptions and analyses of food systems
- histories of agricultural development with a focus on the roles of different regions
- major commodities such as meat, grains and produce with a focus on the place of production
- contemporary challenges in the food system, including labor, disasters/conflict and climate change
- recent and emerging trends in food and agriculture such as lab-grown meat and vertical urban farms
Geographies of Food and Power takes a synthetic approach by discussing food as something produced within an interconnected system, in which labor, food quality and the environment are considered together. It will be a valuable resource for students of human geography, environmental geography, economic geography, food studies and development.
Part 1: Food and Power
Chapter 1 – The Geographies of Food
Chapter 2 – Geography and Power
Part 2: Food for Thought
Chapter 3 – The Origins of Food
Chapter 4 – The Nexus of Production and Consumption
Chapter 5 – Food System Contradictions
Chapter 6 – The Right to Food
Part 3: What We Eat
Chapter 7 – Produce: Fruits and Vegetables
Chapter 8 – Seeds: Grains, Pulses and Nuts
Chapter 9 – Protein: Meat, Fish, Dairy and Eggs
Chapter 10 – Tropical Commodities: Beverages, Fruits, Sugar and Spices
Chapter 11 – Not Food: Ingredients and Additives
Part 4: Challenges in the Global Food System
Chapter 12 – Labor
Chapter 13 – Conflict and Disasters
Chapter 14 – Climate Change
Chapter 15 – The Future of Food
Biography
Amy Trauger is Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia. She is Affiliate Faculty with UGA’s Institute for Women’s Studies, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute and the Center for Integrative Conservation Research. Her research interests include: food sovereignty, sustainable and alternative agriculture, human-environment interactions, gender and agriculture, and indigenous political struggle. She's taught the Geography of Food and the Athens Urban Food Collective courses at UGA nearly every year since she arrived in 2008. Before that, she taught the Geography of Sustainability at Penn State University. She has written, edited and collaborated on four books on the topics of food, agriculture and the environment. Her book, We Want Land to Live, (2017) is used in graduate and advanced undergraduate classes in the US. Her work is widely used by professors teaching courses on the geography of food and agriculture, including Iowa State University, West Virginia University, Tufts University, Cornell and Washington State.
"This is the geography textbook for the class I always wished I’d taken, progressing from introductory concepts to sophisticated analysis over the arc of a semester. With terrific suggestions for supplementary reading, watching, and discussion, Amy Trauger’s Geographies of Food and Power is set to become a classic foundation for generations of geographers."
Raj Patel, Research Professor, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
"Geographies of Food and Power makes a critical contribution to ongoing debates about the historical and contemporary structures of our food system along with the social and environmental implications. Using an intersectional lens, Trauger introduces several concepts and theoretical perspectives to reveal challenges and point to promising pathways forward. This is an essential text for students of geography and food studies along with anyone interested in just and sustainable food futures."
Charles Z. Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead University, Canada.
