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Date Permissions Signed

11-30-2020

Date of Award

Fall 2020

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Anthropology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Bruna, Sean

Second Advisor

Yu, Yeon Jung

Third Advisor

Koetje, Todd A.

Abstract

This research examines how three organizations in Whatcom County, Washington – the Whatcom Food Network working at the county level, the Birchwood Food Security Solutions Working Group working at a neighborhood level, and the Western Washington University Food Security Working Group working at an institutional level – address food insecurity and promote food sovereignty in the metropolitan setting of Bellingham, WA. I frame food security and food sovereignty as social determinants of health or upstream medicine. Utilizing Participant Action Research and ethnographic methods, I explore this question by following three themes. First, I examine the composition and intergroup work process of each organization to better understand how these structures impact the way they work. Second, I explore what policies are being promoted and utilized by each organization. Third, I seek to understand the outputs each organization is achieving with the intent to address food insecurity and sovereignty. I conclude that each group addresses food insecurity at a different social level or activity, and as such, all three types of groups are needed to address the complexity involved in achieving local food security. Additionally, I recommend that funding for consistent staffing is needed at all three levels.

Type

Text

Keywords

food sovereignty, food security, local food policy councils, food deserts, agrarian political economy, social determinants of health, hidden hunger, urban agriculture

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1226413693

Subject – LCSH

Food security--Washington (State)--Bellingham; Food sovereignty--Washington (State)--Bellingham; Agriculture--Economic aspects--Washington (State)--Bellingham; Nutrition--Requirements--Washington (State)--Bellingham

Geographic Coverage

Bellingham (Wash.)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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