Food is a Fundamental Human Right with Dr. Megan Carney

That Anthro Podcast

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Megan Carney, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona to the podcast! She also received here graduate degree at UC Santa Barbara! Dr. Carney is a sociocultural anthropologist who works with migrant communities conducting ethnographic research on food insecurity as well as the social dynamics of displacement and migration. A lot of her early work, that composed her first book, was conducted in Santa Barbara, working with migrant women from Mexico and Central America (Honduras, and Guatemala), examining the issue of food insecurity in an agriculturally productive region. "The Unending Hunger:" https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520285477/the-unending-hunger

After completing her PhD, Megan immediately began working in Italy in 2014 coinciding with the Arab Spring. She was fascinated by the discourses surrounding immigration at the time. Immigrants coming across the Mediterranean were dying at sea due to governments refusing to take responsibility, a real crisis that is a result of social and political failings. Megan published her second book on this subject entitled “Island of Hope, Migration and Solidarity in the Mediterranean:” https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520344518/island-of-hope

Terra Firma film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraferma_(film)

She herself identifies with the right to food/food sovereignty movement that is dissatisfied with food security being the end goals. This movement believes this is not sufficient rather, they want to push to make food a human right. Currently the US does not recognize food as a human right, so right to food is working against transnational food companies, and working towards making food a fundamental human right. They think food is not a commodity, and it should not be controlled by private companies trying to make a profits. They believe there should be dignity in how food is distrusted. Dr. Carney also lays out techniques for ethnographic life history interviews and shares some stories. She talks about the transition to the University of Arizona in 2017 and outlines then classes she teaches and has created, as well as the topics she’s passionate about teaching like “black food matters.”

She discuses the research and ethnographic data collection process, and discusses the benefits of long term ethnographic work. She explains why writing the second book was actually harder to write than the first. She is also the Director of the Center for Regional Food Studies, a center that conducts research related to issues locally in borderland regions but is also involved across critical food studies. https://crfs.arizona.edu/

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Brought to you in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association check out their podcast library here https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1629