Food security and food sovereignty

food_sovereignty_paper_assignment1_1
 I attached a a document with all instructions.

Food Sovereignty/ Food Security Paper instructions:

You will write a paper on a country or group of people (If you want to write about the United States you must find a distinct culture and have instructor approval) which explores issues of food security and/or food sovereignty for these people. Begin your paper with clear definitions of food security and food sovereignty (p. 17-18, Seeking Food Rights), and then briefly introduce the people or culture you are discussing. Clearly explain the issue and why you chose this particular people or culture.

Look up the food sovereignty principles of Via Campesina on the web so that you understand the many aspects of life that can be considered in relation to food sovereignty. Your paper should include statistics, but these need to be fleshed out with details about people’s lives in a social, political, and economic context. You should choose certain aspects of the food system or food life to discuss. Make sure that they are relevant to questions of food security and/or food sovereignty. Be able to explain briefly why you chose this particular aspect for your paper.

Seeking Food Rights is a good model because it suggests different areas of life that are significant to food security and food sovereignty in Uzbekistan (Chapters 1-7) and in the US in Chapter 8. Note that in the Uzbek case, questions of inequality by class, urban-rural differences, gender, and ethnicity are important to food security and food sovereignty for various people and groups. The government and/or market’s control over agriculture, land, and people’s shopping opportunities are also important to consider. On a global scale, the amount of food and kinds of food that are imported and exported from a country influences food security and food sovereignty. For example, if farmers mostly grow coffee or bananas, there is little land to grow their own food to eat.

When investigating a country think about such questions as the following. But be careful to pick a few to answer as you will not be able to answer all of them.

· What kinds of food are most preferred and who gets to eat them?

· How do food habits differ between rich and poor? Are health differences related to this?

· What kinds of crops do farmers grow? Why? Has that changed in the last twenty or thirty years?

· Do people eat food that is grown in their country or in their region?

· Do men and women relate differently to food in its growth, preparation, eating, etc? How does this affect their relation to food?

· Are minority ethnic groups able to access enough food and the kind of food that they want to eat from a cultural point of view? Why or why not?

· How do minority and majority ethnic groups participate in the process of producing, processing, and serving food?

· Is the country able to grow enough food to feed its population? In what areas does it lack food? On whom is it dependent for food?

· Do people feel that their food is safe?

Acceptable references:

In addition to course materials the paper must be based on at least two out-of-class articles—one of at least 2-3 pages and one of at least 5 pages—that are found in peer-reviewed journals and also one book. Peer review means that the research in the paper has been reviewed by other researchers and is accepted by other academics. These papers may be found in the Library’s databases or in hard copy in academic journals. Wikipedia and other on-line sites and resources are not acceptable. If you need help with research the Valley Library on campus has an anthropology librarian who can help you to find materials. The help desk at the library can also show you how to access academic journals. You must provide a complete “works cited”/bibliography with the paper.

Book chapters are acceptable, but likely longer. Make sure that you reference in your actual paper (in-text) each of the sources you use with the author, year of publication, and page number (Smith 2000:35). Only references used in the paper should be listed in the bibliography, and all references used in the paper must be included in the bibliography. Make a bibliography following MLA style. If there is another style you would like to practice (one, for example, that your major requires you to use) contact your instructor in advance of submitting your paper. Remember, the bibliography does not count toward the three to four pages.

You will deliver this paper to your instructor on Wednesday of Week Ten.