Episode 3: Practicing ‘intersectional solidarity and care’ with First Nations, grassroots, and refugee communities Artwork

Fair Food Futures

The Fair Food Futures podcast explores the stories and visions for change put forth by community food networks in Australia as they seek to progress transformations towards sustainable food futures, and identifies the strategies, challenges and opportunities for making civil society’s visions for fair food futures come to life. Our main questions were: what does it mean to do ‘food justice’ in Australia? What does your fair food future look like, and how do we get there? With these questions in mind, we listened to stories from leaders of grassroots food organisations, community workers, farmers, First Nations communities, activists, consumers, academics and global policy makers. By bringing these voices together, the Fair Food Futures podcast aims to create a space for dialogue and alliance building between members of civic food networks in Australia, and contribute to ongoing conversations about the opportunities and challenges for policy change. Fair Food Futures is based on research conducted at The University of Queensland and funded by the Australian Research Council, in collaboration with civic food networks in Australia. The Fair Food Futures Podcast is produced and facilitated by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, and Joanna Horton, from the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland. It was made possible thanks to the support of the Future Earth's Pathways Communication Grants Program. Recorded at VMP Studio by Liam Polmear & Ian Chapman. Illustrations by Brenna Quinlan. Audio sting by Charlie Mgee. Visit our website for more information: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

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Fair Food Futures

Episode 3: Practicing ‘intersectional solidarity and care’ with First Nations, grassroots, and refugee communities

November 07, 2022 • Francis Nona, Dr Preetha Thomas, Susannah Holmes, Dr Daniel Cruz, and Joanna Horton • Season 1 • Episode 3

In this episode of the Fair Food Futures podcast we begin our journey alongside leaders of civic food networks in Australia, learning from them how they uphold intersectional solidarity and care practices in their work. This episode brings together three examples of how the “Long Table” scenario identified by the Fair Food Futures project can look like in practice.

Francis Nona and Dr Preetha Thomas, from the UQ Reconciliation Garden, explain how the garden aims to promote the voices of First Nations peoples and embed indigenous food knowledges within the public and academic discourse, while providing a safe space for First Nations students and community members.

Dr Daniel Cruz from the Green Pea Community Farm talks about the community building and partnership-building strategies they employ to facilitate the empowerment of the 61 refugees of the community farm, who come from Bhutanese , Solomon Islands, and Karen backgrounds primarily.

Susannah Holmes, from Your Farm, narrates the story of how this community-based organisation succeeded in establishing a spray-free farm in the middle of a racecourse, as well as a veggie distribution network at Deagon.

Our guests speak about the deeper meanings of food (e.g.: spiritual, cultural), based on their experiences working in partnership with First Nations, grassroots, and refugee communities. They discuss the encounters with marginalisation experienced by these communities in their interaction with the food system and describe how their initiatives have promoted ways of caring between the members and supporters of these projects.

Finally, our guests reflect on the key role that intersectional strategic alliance building plays in the transformation of the food system, and share their lessons and advice to progress a fairer food future that is more inclusive.

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios for food justice HERE.

UQ Reconciliation Garden: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/article/2022/06/indigenous-heritage-and-flora-flourishing-uq-reconciliation-garden

Green Pea Community Farm ABC’s documentary and associated pages:

https://www.sandbag.org.au/visit-green-p-farm/

https://www.facebook.com/greenpfarmdeagon

Your Farm Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/yourfarm.4017

Article: “3 ways community gardens often exclude migrants and refugees — and how to turn this around”

Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia.

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/