Fall 2024 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series at Cornell University
Speaker: Bobby J. Smith II, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Abstract: In this talk, Bobby J. Smith II briefly outlines the key interventions of his book, Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, the inaugural book of the new Black Food Justice series at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Press. Smith looks beyond the plate and kitchen table to explore how food emerged as a contested site of Black freedom during the Civil Rights Movement. Focusing on the movement in Mississippi, Smith shows how food was used as a political and economic weapon against rural Black communities and illuminates how these communities fought back by creating their own agricultural systems and food networks. Looking forward, Smith concludes the talk with thinking about how his book clarifies a blueprint for Black food futures and the future of the food justice movement. Futures that will be sustainable, equitable, and inclusive.
About the speaker: Dr. Bobby J. Smith II is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author of Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, the inaugural book of the newly launched Black Food Justice Series at UNC Press. His interdisciplinary research and teaching cultivate an intellectual sphere and public space to interpret how Black people build agricultural and food systems amid myriad inequalities and injustices, reconfiguring pre-existing conceptualizations of agriculture and food. Dr. Smith is a 2023-2024 Research Fellow in the Public Libraries Partnering on Food Justice Project, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the 2023-2024 USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL) Scholar-in-Residence. He has previously been a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellow and an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellow.
About the seminar series
The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations.
Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.
The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Integrative Plant Science as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.