Framing Food, Building Community: Reciprocity and Resurgence at a Small Scale

Abstract

This project employs a small-scale approach to addressing systemic challenges to our relationship with land, the food system, and one another through building a cabin on a local farm. Guided by principles of permaculture alongside other frameworks— including the work of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and adrienne maree brown—I explore how the resurgent power of taking your body onto the land and engaging in deep investigations of reciprocal relationships can be a powerful tool against even the most encompassing systems of oppression. I investigate the ways that self liberation can ignite larger scale liberation movements, and how food and land access can be liberatory powers themselves. I think that one of the only ways we can proceed is through opportunities for deeply engaged experiential education and the fusion of theory and practice. In building an apprentice cabin for a small local farm, I hope to provide space for young interested individuals to work with their hands and learn from this land. I hope that my work will allow others to experience the distinct joy of learning from farmer and teacher Amy Newday.