Voices OF Food Insecurity
The goal of this project is to elevate the voices of marginalized students within the campus food movement, particularly those students with lived experience of food insecurity.
The project will support students in creating and sharing their own stories of food insecurity, and build the capacity of student activists to incorporate personal stories in their campus-based advocacy and awareness campaigns.
Elevating BIPOC Voices
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In November 2019, the Guelph Lab co-hosted a 3 day “digital-storytelling” workshop for racialized students with lived experience of food insecurity. Rates of food insecurity are generally highest among international students as well as black, Indigenous, and students of colour, reflecting – and indeed driven by – broader racial disparities in Canada. The workshop was a partnership with Meal Exchange, the Meal Exchange Racialized Student Caucus, and Re•Vision The Centre for Art and Social Justice.
Participants create and own their stories. Some participants chose to share them online. Videos have also been screened on the UofG campus.
"Bones" is a video created by Mechaela Alfonso. We are showing it here with kind permission of the creator.
Stories and Advocacy
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In March 2020, the Guelph Lab, Dr. Phil Loring, Meal Exchange and Re•Vision The Centre for Art and Social Justice were awarded the James Alexander Campbell Nutrition Education and Knowledge Mobilization Fund to further this work, including:
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What are the lived experiences of food insecure students? Creation of additional digital stories by students with lived experience of food insecurity.
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How do audiences respond to digital stories? Specifically, the development of “guided empathy” processes that support audiences to constructively engage with digital stories. Processes will initially be developed based on a set of existing digital stories (created at UofG in 2019) and refined later in the project once further stories have been created.
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What role can digital stories play in bringing about a more accessible/equitable food system on individual campuses? Development of a short workshop offered to student food activists that builds their capacity to effectively incorporate digital stories of lived experience into their local / campus food campaigns.