Race, Four Farms, and a City: Color Blindness and the Austin, TX, Urban Farm Debate.
Austin, TX, was the site of a three-year debate between urban farmers and their supporters and local community activists about how to rewrite an outdated farm code. There was tremendous animosity between the two groups and, despite efforts at mediation, the two sides were unable to reach compromise....
| Published in: | Humanity & Society Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 227 - 250 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Sage Publications Inc.
Aug2019
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=137413257&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 137413257 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01605976 GWQ jtl: Humanity & Society issn: 01605976 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2019 vid: 43 iid: 3 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. artinfo: ui: 137413257 10.1177/0160597618814880 ppf: 227 ppct: 23 formats: tig: atl: Race, Four Farms, and a City: Color Blindness and the Austin, TX, Urban Farm Debate. aug: au: Harris, Deborah A. Romero, Rachel affil: Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA su: Urban agriculture Gentrification sug: subj: Urban agriculture Gentrification keyword: alternative food color blindness gentrification racism urban farming whiteness alternative food color blindness gentrification racism urban farming whiteness ab: Austin, TX, was the site of a three-year debate between urban farmers and their supporters and local community activists about how to rewrite an outdated farm code. There was tremendous animosity between the two groups and, despite efforts at mediation, the two sides were unable to reach compromise. To understand more about how these two groups came into conflict, we interviewed 26 local stakeholders about their views and experiences during the farm code debate and found that issues of race and racial inequality were a key factor in the continuing mistrust. We found that farmers and their supporters attempted to frame the debate and its racial undertones by highlighting their racial–ethnic minority supporters, describing their businesses as reclaiming East Austin's agricultural past, and arguing that the only issue that should matter in redrawing the farm ordinance should be how to best help farmers provide healthy food to the community. We argue that the farmers' responses draw from a discourse of whiteness and color blindness that can be harmful to People of Color and link their views to larger critiques that the alternative food movement and individual alternative food projects can be exclusionary. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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