I came across this week’s guest on Twitter and was so grateful for it, because her perspective and research on food systems is a complete inspiration. I’m interviewing Dr. Sarah Rotz, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Geography at Queens University, as part of the CIHR funded “A SHARED Future” project. Sarah has a PhD in geography from the University of Guelph and has published on topics ranging from the political economy of farmland tenure and critical perspectives of big data in agriculture, to the ways that settler-colonial logics and gendered narratives uphold extractive practices and relationships on the land.
As a settler-scholar-activist, Sarah’s work focuses on political ecologies of land and food systems, settler colonial patriarchy, and concepts of sovereignty and justice related to food, water, energy and the ecosystems that support them. Her current research critically explores how settler and Indigenous relationships are emerging through land-based, Indigenous food and energy sovereignty projects across Canada.
We’re focusing this conversation around the idea of a global diet or globalized food systems. Given Sarah’s unique perspective and research on food systems as they relate to ideas of power, colonialism, and Indigenous sovereignty, I was really excited to speak with her on the strengths and limits to globalized food systems approaches. I definitely have a tendency to become somewhat negative or in my head when it comes to thinking about solutions and changes to our relationships with food and land, and Sarah shares some incredible perspectives and ways to navigate how we feel and emotionally connect with food systems.
Check out the episode in the player above, or download on any major podcast platform!
Resources:
Twitter: @sarahrotz
Website: https://sarahrotz.com/
Sarah’s latest piece in The Conversation Canada: Forget smart cities (for a minute), we need to talk about smart farms