This week on the show we’re questioning the traditions and assumptions around the role of family in farming.
“When something goes wrong in the family relationship, it can really affect the farm business, and when something goes wrong in the farm business, it can really affect the family relationship–which has big implications for things like food security–although we often don’t look at it that way.”
My guest is sociologist Isaac Leslie, of the University of New Hampshire. Leslie currently works in the Food Systems Department at UNH, and they are also a farmer at Magnetic Fields Farm, and a community organizer.
Queering Food System
On this show, we explore the food system from many perspectives. Sometimes it’s about preparing food, other times it’s about growing food. We look at food access, environmental concerns–we’ve applied a lens of racial justice and equity to the study of food, we’ve looked at land access and historical discrimination.
I heard a talk through the Indiana University Food Institute’s speaker series. It was a topic I hadn’t really thought about before. The guest speaker was Ike Leslie, and the talk was called Queering the Food System. The lecture was interesting and thought provoking and touched on issues we have examined on the show before, but approached them in new ways. I reached out to Ike Leslie and invited them for a conversation.
Further reading:
Isaac Sohn Leslie, Jaclyn Wypler, Michael Mayerfeld Bell, Relational Agriculture: Gender, Sexuality, and Sustainability in U.S. Farming, Society & Natural Resources.
Gabriel Rosenberg, The 4-H Harvest: Sexuality and the State in Rural America, University of Pennsylvania Press.
Julie Keller, "I Wanna Have My Own Damn Dairy Farm!”: Women Farmers, Legibility, and Femininities in Rural Wisconsin, U.S., Journal of Rural Social Sciences.
Monica White, Freedom Farmers:Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement, University of North Carolina Press.
Gregory Peter, Michael Bell, Susan Jarnagin, Donna Bauer, Coming Back Across the Fence: Masculinity and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Sociology
Jennifer Russomanno, Food Insecurity Among Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals in the Southeast United States: A Qualitative Study,Transgender Health.
Rock Steady Farm, Millerton New York.
La Via Campesina, International Peasants' Movement.
[note: this show originally aired in 2022]
Music on this Episode:
The Earth Eats theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.
Additional music on this episode from Universal Production Music.
Credits:
The Earth Eats’ team includes: Eoban Binder, Alex Chambers, Toby Foster, Luann Johnson, Leo Paes, Samantha Shemenaur, Payton Whaley and Harvest Public Media.
Earth Eats is produced, engineered and edited by Kayte Young. Our executive producer is Eric Bolstridge.
