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Food systems management takes place in diverse sectors and at different scales. This can include: kitchen management by culinary professionals and chefs; management of food businesses, cooperatives, and organizations; farm management; and labor management – whether worker-led or proprietor-driven. Meanwhile, food justice – as a movement, concept, and field of academic scholarship – insists that inequities in the food system are grounded in social structures such as structural racism, gender-based disparities, and intergenerational wealth and economic inequalities. There are many ways in which a food justice approach is important to supporting socially just and sustainable food systems management, touching upon diverse, but interconnected issues including wage disparity, uneven enforcement of regulations, and inequitable access to start-up capital for sustainable food businesses.
This panel discussion explores these themes from the perspectives of food entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders in non-profit, government, and business sectors. Panelist comments will be followed by audience questions and participatory discussion.
The event will be introduced by Dr. Latha Poonamallee, Chair of Management, and moderated by Dr. Kristin Reynolds, Chair of Food Studies in the Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students within the Schools of Public Engagement.
Presented by the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment at the Schools of Public Engagement; Management + Entrepreneurship Programs; the Management, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship major and the Food Studies major in the Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students.
The event is part of two social justice-oriented series hosted at The New School in Spring 2022: The Management and Social Justice Conversation series hosted by the Management Program, and The Critical Food Studies and Social Justice series hosted by the Food Studies program.
By joining this online event, you will be prompted to accept Zoom Terms of Service. If the session is recorded, you acknowledge that by participating, your name, phone number, and profile picture might be visible to the public. You can customize your personal information when creating your Zoom account. The New School may use any recorded material from the event.
The virtual Management and Social Justice Conversation Series is for those interested in critical and generative approaches to management scholarship, teaching, and practice based on relevant, topical, and invigorating social theories. The series presenters will present work that is focused on inclusion in workplaces as well as questions of racial, ecological, economic, and gender injustice, and that goes beyond the historical agendas of business schools and for-profit corporations, including profit maximization, and managerialist agendas. Visit our website for more information on our past and upcoming events in this webinar series.
Food studies scholar and nutritionist Dr. Marion Nestle has observed that food studies has continually evolved alongside the food movement, and has asked food studies to contribute to “changing the world.”[1] Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson, also a key food scholar, situated in American studies, insists on bringing an intersectional approach to food studies. She argues that intersectionality theory’s commitment to social justice and to “dismantling” unjust power structures would strengthen food studies by enabling it to better understand dynamics of the food system.[2] Critical food geographer Julie Guthman observes that food justice researchers often seek to support food movements through their work. She pushes such scholars to do so with a commitment to the integrity of engaged scholarship and scientific inquiry.[3] These influential thinkers and writers, among many others, illustrate the diversity and interdisciplinarity of food studies. Each analyzes food system issues – including as food politics, racialized and gendered dimensions of food and foodways, and the hegemony of neoliberalism in the food system, respectively—through a “critical” lens that situates food system injustices in broader social and political structures. Critical food studies helps us to understand food systems at levels deeper than the food that we eat or even the specific cultural foodways with which we may be familiar as individuals and communities. But critical food studies is decidedly not the purview of academics alone. Knowledge creation and communication occurs through many venues including design and urban planning, popular education, community organizing, and music.
Collectively these understandings can help us make sense often-complex food systems dynamics, their intertwinings in societal inequity at multiple scales, and, importantly, ways forward to a more just food system.
The Food Studies Program’s “Critical Food Studies and Social Justice” Spring 2022 Series engages with these ideas through a diverse line up of online panel discussions, keynote talks, and multimedia presentations. Please email us at foodstudies@newschool.edu for more information about upcoming events and registration.
[1] Nestle, M. 2010. Writing the Food Studies Movement. Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research. 13 (2): 162-170.
[2] Williams-Forson, P. and Wilkerson, A. 2011 Intersectionality and Food Studies. Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research. 14(1): 7-28.
[3] Guthman, Julie. 2008. “Bringing Good Food to Others: Investigating the Subjects of Alternative Food Practice.” Cultural Geographies. 15, no. 4: 431–47.
The Food Studies Program at The New School centers the connections between food, culture, social policy, and the environment, through its interdisciplinary curriculum, faculty expertise, and public event series. The degree program is open to adults, transfer students, and other nontraditional undergraduates who can earn a bachelor's degree and/or an associate in applied science (AAS) degree, exploring course subjects ranging from food systems and food media to global food security and public health issues like obesity and malnutrition. The public events spotlight cutting edge food systems issues such as “Food and Power,” “Food and the Public,” and the Spring 2022 “Critical Food and Social Justice Series.” Learn more.
Organizations today need leaders who can navigate a fast-changing economy, applying an entrepreneurial outlook and keen analytical skills to emerging business opportunities and global forces. At The New School's colleges and schools — from Parsons and Milano to Media Studies and Performing Arts — management and entrepreneurship education goes beyond promoting conventional business approaches to develop creative problem solvers skilled at managing within future-facing, creative, socially engaged environments. Our distinctive approach is rooted in five overarching themes and in-demand capacities: Design, Futures, Human Experience, Social Justice, and Systems. Learn more.
Committed to amplifying diverse voices, The New School offers more than a thousand public programs and events each year, providing fresh perspectives and unique learning opportunities. These lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and performances feature prominent and emerging artists, activists, and thought leaders.
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Ashwin is an entrepreneur, researcher and engineer from Brooklyn who uses design thinking to fight food waste. As COO of Rise Products, he brings together diverse actors, resources and technology to convert overlooked byproducts into healthy, tasty and sustainable ingredients. He is on the board of a few non-profit organizations, helping them navigate logistical, operational, strategic and technological issues. His previous work was in International Development, focussing on empowerment of disenfranchised women through community building and resilience. Ashwin also worked on analyzing and building multinational organizational culture at Mars Inc. He hails from India, where he studied Mechanical Engineering with a focus on process automation. Ashwin graduated from NYU Tandon with a PhD in Technology Management and wrote his doctoral dissertation on technology and labor in on-demand and algorithmically managed work. He currently teaches technology strategy and entrepreneurship at the New School and at NYU.
Tagan Engel is an organizer, entrepreneur, chef, artist, and mentor who has dedicated her life to the liberation of all people and the planet. She has over 25 years experience across many sectors of the food system as well as in equitable community and economic development. Tagan integrates her knowledge of regenerative food systems, racial & economic equity, and environmental justice to support vibrant community driven work and transformational change.
For more than a decade, Tagan worked as a chef and entrepreneur in New York City, Boston, and New Haven, CT. In 2008 she began work on sustainable local supply chains and workers' rights in small businesses and institutions such as Blue State Coffee, New Haven Public Schools, and Yale University. As Community Food Systems Director for CitySeed she ran community-driven food and farm access programs, cooking and garden education, and supported food business entrepreneurship. Through her work on the New Haven Food Policy Council she organized a city-wide network to address food issues, spearheaded the co-creation of the first New Haven Food Action Plan in 2012, and the establishment of the Department of Food Systems Policy for the City in 2016.
Currently Tagan is a Resident Fellow at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment where she leads work on regenerative food systems, diversity, equity and inclusion, practices for a new economy, and building respectful relationships with local communities. She is also the Executive Producer of The Table Underground radio show and podcast where she records stories on food, radical love, race, and creative social justice.
Since 2016, Tagan has served on the Board of Directors of Soul Fire Farm, an “Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system”. She also mentors community-based food and social ventures with Collab. Tagan served on the advisory team to establish the ConnCAT Culinary Arts Academy, was a Mentor in Residence to entrepreneurs at the TSAI Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, was invited to the White House by Michelle Obama in her Chefs Move to Schools initiative, and was a 2018 Inspiring Equity in Education Story Fellow with the Graustein Memorial Fund.
Tagan lives in New Haven, CT with her husband, two children and extended family. She is an Ashkenazi Jew, the grandchild of Holocaust survivors who led a revolt and escaped from the death camp Sobibor. She is also an Iyanifa priestess in the Yoruba Orisa tradition. Tagan can often be found cooking and sharing food, connecting people, and loving up on her community near and far.
Robert Y. Chang is an Emmy-nominated producer and the Coordinating Producer of America ReFramed. America ReFramed is committed to presenting stories that illuminate complex social issues and pose an array of experiences through which viewers can contemplate our past, understand our present, and challenge the reimagining of America’s future. The curated year-round series is broadcast on public television’s WORLD Channel and streams via the PBS app. As a member of the Programming & Production team at American Documentary, Robert contributes to the curation of its award-winning documentary series. He has served as juror, screener, programmer, panelist, and reviewer for a range of film festivals and arts funders. He has also served as juror for the IDA Awards, the Tellys, RTDNA Murrow Awards, and the News & Documentary Emmys. Previously, Robert received his PhD in Cultural Anthropology at NYU for his research on the intersection of religion and media. Robert is also a documentary filmmaker whose work has screened worldwide at festivals and is distributed by Documentary Educational Resources (DER). He is a member of the Producers Guild of America.
Akhil SG is a graduate student in Nonprofit Management with a minor in Global Urban Futures at the New School. He is the founding president of Sahridhaya, a non profit based in Kerala that works for creating social awareness among youth for the last 8 years. He also works as a consultant for initiatives at the intersection of social justice and technology in academic and public institutions.
Before engaging with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) he was the Technology Fellow at Kerala Startupmission, a state government agency that promotes technology startups and a Researcher in Assistive Technology at International Center for Free and Open Source Software. Having a Bachelors in Engineering he explores the organizational interactions of public institutions through a technology lens. Currently researching New York City’s urban food systems from a neighborhood perspective.
Joanne Scillitoe is the inaugural Paul Jennings Chair in Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Management at California State University Northridge. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Management and an MBA from Rutgers University, a BS in Business Administration from The College of New Jersey, and an A.A.S. degree in Biological Technology from Middlesex County Community College.
She is the 2015-16 Fulbright-SyCip Distinguished Lecturer (Philippines) and a 2018-19 Fulbright Senior Scholar (Spain). Prior to her appointment at CSUN she was a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at New York Institute of Technology and an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at Michigan Technological University. Prior to her academic career, she had over 17 years of life sciences work experience. Her research interests include business incubation processes, technological innovation processes, technology entrepreneurship, socio-tech entrepreneurship and innovation, and interdisciplinary. Dr. Scillitoe's research has won several best paper awards and has been published in top-tier academic journals.
Cara is the Founder of the Restorative Food Justice Project at EMERGE CT and the Food Entrepreneurship Program Manager at CitySeed, both in New Haven CT. Cara has 14 years of experience in the food industry. A former chef, Cara used their love of food and lived experiences with food insecurity and poverty to make the move from restaurants to community-based organizations to work with people who've been through similar circumstances. Cara graduated from Johnson & Wales University in 2012 with a BS in Culinary Arts & Food Service Management, and they received a MS in Food Studies from Syracuse University in 2021.
As the founder of the Restorative Food Justice Project at EMERGE CT, Cara helps address prison-related food insecurity in New Haven through accessible, intersectional, and participatory food systems workshops and opportunities developed with returning citizens and local BIPOC leaders. Cara’s work with this project has been published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.
As the Food Entrepreneurship Program Manager at CitySeed, Cara works with early-stage food entrepreneurs through advising on business and culinary development, managing CitySeed’s shared-use commercial kitchen, building strategic partnerships that focus on economic and community development, and developing policies and services to support their needs.
Cara is currently on the Network Advisory Council for Farm to Institution New England and the Community Advisory Board for New Haven's Urban Agriculture Master Plan. In their spare time, they enjoy cooking, reading, and listening to music.
Tagan Engel is an organizer, entrepreneur, chef, artist, and mentor who has dedicated her life to the liberation of all people and the planet. She has over 25 years experience across many sectors of the food system as well as in equitable community and economic development. Tagan integrates her knowledge of regenerative food systems, racial & economic equity, and environmental justice to support vibrant community driven work and transformational change.
For more than a decade, Tagan worked as a chef and entrepreneur in New York City, Boston, and New Haven, CT. In 2008 she began work on sustainable local supply chains and workers' rights in small businesses and institutions such as Blue State Coffee, New Haven Public Schools, and Yale University. As Community Food Systems Director for CitySeed she ran community-driven food and farm access programs, cooking and garden education, and supported food business entrepreneurship. Through her work on the New Haven Food Policy Council she organized a city-wide network to address food issues, spearheaded the co-creation of the first New Haven Food Action Plan in 2012, and the establishment of the Department of Food Systems Policy for the City in 2016.
Currently Tagan is a Resident Fellow at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment where she leads work on regenerative food systems, diversity, equity and inclusion, practices for a new economy, and building respectful relationships with local communities. She is also the Executive Producer of The Table Underground radio show and podcast where she records stories on food, radical love, race, and creative social justice.
Since 2016, Tagan has served on the Board of Directors of Soul Fire Farm, an “Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system”. She also mentors community-based food and social ventures with Collab. Tagan served on the advisory team to establish the ConnCAT Culinary Arts Academy, was a Mentor in Residence to entrepreneurs at the TSAI Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, was invited to the White House by Michelle Obama in her Chefs Move to Schools initiative, and was a 2018 Inspiring Equity in Education Story Fellow with the Graustein Memorial Fund.
Tagan lives in New Haven, CT with her husband, two children and extended family. She is an Ashkenazi Jew, the grandchild of Holocaust survivors who led a revolt and escaped from the death camp Sobibor. She is also an Iyanifa priestess in the Yoruba Orisa tradition. Tagan can often be found cooking and sharing food, connecting people, and loving up on her community near and far.
Stacey L. Flanagan is the Director of The City of Jersey City’s award winning Department or Health and Human Services (JCHHS). Prior to joining the Fulop Administration in 2013, Flanagan spent 20 years leading innovative food programming for nonprofits like Share Our Strength and Public Health Solutions. At Share Our Strength, she led the national program, Cooking Matters, and redesigned the curriculum, set up new corporate partners and developed outcome measurements to ensure program integrity. At Public Health Solutions, she worked with Neighborhood WIC, WIC Vendor Management, and implemented NYS’ 2009 Food Package Change for Women Infant & Children. In addition, she served as co-chair to the NYC Food Systems Network.
As the Director of JCHHS, she created policies to engage community stakeholders and combat food insecurity such as enhancing Farmers’ Market policies and creating the Division of Food & Nutrition. In 2019, Flanagan began working on a pilot with World Economic Forum’s Healthy Cities and Communities platform, to focusing on measurable interventions to reduce food insecurity and enhance food sovereignty through private-sector partnerships in technology, access to healthy food, and education. The City has contracted with AeroFarms, a vertical indoor farming company to launch Healthy Greens JC, the nation's first municipal vertical urban farming public-private partnership. AeroFarms is currently located at two Housing Authority sites with plans for several additional locations. As part of this work, the EPA & USDA have recognized Jersey City’s efforts and are currently providing Technical Assistance through Local Food Local Places, to expand healthy food access through workforce development and meal production.
Flanagan graduated Michigan State University with a BA in Political Science, and an MS in Nonprofit Management from Milano the New School for Urban Policy and Management. She currently lectures on Food Systems Policy and Social Justice at New Jersey City University & Saint Peter’s University.
Josefina Luna is a world citizen born on the Dominican Republic’s north coast. She is a CERO founder and current CFO and Operations Manager. She studied education and worked as a teacher for 15 years before moving to Boston in 1993. From her mother, Josefina learned to plant trees. She felt the satisfaction of having a garden in the yard with abundant food for her family. She learned to love and respect her environment and has been an environmental activist ever since.
Dr. Kristin Reynolds is Chair and Visiting Assistant Professor of Food Studies at The New School. As a critical food geographer, her work focuses on racial and economic justice dimensions of the global food system. She uses action research approaches to connect research and scholarship to food justice and food sovereignty, with current projects in New York City and Eastern France. Dr. Reynolds also lectures on social justice in the food system at Yale School of the Environment. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography and M.S. in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis.