Photo Credits: Rob Stephenson
action RESEARCH
Kristin’s research focuses on social justice in the global food system through lenses of critical food geography and action research.
One branch of her research examines social equity dimensions of urban agriculture and food policy, about which she has researched and published extensively.
A second branch of her scholarship is participatory food systems research and scholar activism, including work with numerous community-based food, agriculture, and social justice organizations. She is co-founder and coordinator of the American Association of Geographers Food and Agriculture Specialty Group’s Food Justice Scholar-Activism/Activist Scholar community of practice. A new, collaborative project in 2021 explores linkages between farmer seed sovereignty and heritage grains, and seeks to strengthen the development of regional grain economies in Eastern France.
current projects
COMMERCIAL URBAN AGRICULTURE
AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
This is a comparative study of commercial urban agriculture and policy changes in New York City and Paris.
New York and Paris have expanding for-profit urban agriculture systems and evolving policies related to the professionalization of urban food production; Yet it is not clear to what extent these will increase economic power or food access in low income communities. This research seeks to understand whether and to what extent commercial urban agriculture might support economic equity and social justice in U.S. and European contexts. The comparative project is in collaboration with colleagues at Université Paris 8 (Vincennes-Saint-Denis).
Photo credit: Kristin Reynolds
Publications
Read our fall 2018 research brief in the City University of New York (CUNY) Urban Food Policy Institute’s Food Policy Monitor.
Read Kristin’s summer 2019 analysis of a proposal to create a comprehensive urban agriculture plan in New York City in the City University of New York (CUNY) Urban Food Policy Institute’s Food Policy Monitor.
CONFRONFRONTING ETHNO—RACIAL DISSCRIMINATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK IN FRANCE (2022-2025)
This project investigates ethno-racial inequities and discrimination in agricultural work in France — with particular focus on foreign and/or racialized workers in the South of France — through racial justice lenses more common in the United States. The scientific aim is to document possible inequities, understand their social and spatial dimensions, and identify social and policy innovations to promote fairer working conditions. It is funded by the Transatlantic Research Partnership, a program of FACE Foundation and the French Embassy.
In conjunction with the American Association of Geographers’ Geographies of Food and Agriculture Specialty Group, Kristin is co-founder and coordinator of this international community of practice focused on :
• The meaning and scalability of “food justice” (in urban and rural spaces);
• Productive questioning of the dichotomy between activist and scholar;
• Recognition of experience-based food systems expertise in a variety of settings;
• The potential roles of academics/academic work in advancing food justice.
To join the listserv or monthly online meetings, email fjscholaractivists [at] gmail . com.
Publications
Read our article on FJSAAS and radical food geographies in Reynolds, K., Block, D., Hammelman, C., Jones, B., Gilbert, J., and Herrera, H. 2020. Envisioning Radical Food Geographies: Shared Learning and Praxis through the Food Justice Scholar-Activist/Activist-Scholar Community of Practice. Human Geography 13(3).
Read our related special journal issue on Food Justice Scholar-Activism and Activist Scholarship in ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies (Vol 17., no. 4).
(Open-access = free to download for all.)Read about our co-sponsored Radical Food Geographies workshop in Washington, D.C., April 2, 2019.
HERITAGE GRAINS AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN FRANCE
As farmers seek to maintain their livelihoods and traditional agroecological practices in the context of climate change; as consumers are increasingly interested in products made from “heritage” or non-hybrid seeds, there is a potential for synergies to support food sovereignty and artisanal foods.
This project examines the potentially interrelated trajectories of: farmer-led stewardship of land races of cereal grains/blés de pays and re-emerging regional markets for locally-sourced bakery products in France. Participatory research in the Parisian and Grand Est regions of France includes a collaboration with the French organic agriculture organization Bio en Grand Est and through Kristin’s role as Associated Researcher at the European School of Political and Social Sciences. Read a summary of the project in English/en français. Read the final report/rapport final en français ici.
Photo credit: Kristin Reynolds