Overview | Curriculum | Instructors
Agroecology, Food Sovereignty, And Social Movements
ALE 6140
Racist, sexist, and colonial food systems reflect the deep scars and injustices of history and the present. People’s movements of all kinds are strategically using agroecology as a guide and method for building and restoring popular stewardship of food systems, healing the land and each other, and constructing a solidarity economy.
Program Snapshot
Next Start Date | How Often | Learning Format | Online Learning Type |
| January 13, 2025 | Every Spring | Online | Synchronous |
Required Group Meetings | Duration | Time Commitment | Credential |
| TBD (One two-hour session per week) | 15 Weeks | 6-8 hours/week | ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Credit or Digital Badge |
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Overview
Course Overview: Agroecology, Food Sovereignty, and Social Movements
BUILDING AN EMANCIPATORY PRAXIS FOR FOOD SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION
Why do some food systems transform, while others do not? Organizing with agroecology and food sovereignty to challenge entrenched power structures and build justice into our food systems requires fluid planning and collective decision-making, effective farming and food distribution techniques, strategic and conjectural alliances, resource mobilization, historical knowledge, narrative and discursive skills, a political and ecological vision for educating society, and a commitment and deep belief in people’s capacity to transform themselves as they transform the world. This course examines case studies of current and historic social movements, from Indigenous Land Back to Black Agrarians to La VÃa Campesina, that have dared to use agroecology as a tool for liberation, and explores the socioeconomic, cultural, political, ecological, and pedagogical dynamics of these struggles. Course participants will critically examine agroecology and food sovereignty as mobilizing concepts, and reflect on their own constituencies and the potential for solidarity across differences in building liberation praxis to confront exploitation, injustice, and empire, and leave legacies of healthy land, heirloom seeds, fruits, freedom, and equality for future generations.
COURSE DAYS & TIMES: Spring 2025 Semester: January 13 – May 9. Required online meetings, time TBD.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Apply critical social, cultural and political theory to the change and evolution of food systems
- Describe the roots of agroecology and food sovereignty in indigenous cosmovisions, revolutionary movements and the dialogues among ways of knowing
- Reflect on trajectories of food system change, based on real-world examples from the US and across the world
- Contribute to collective and strategic decision-making processes connected to agroecology
Curriculum
In this course, we will set into motion some of the pedagogical approaches and methods employed by rural social movements in their autonomous schools of agroecology and food sovereignty. This requires leaning into the online learning community and trusting one another as our companions in a journey of learning and personal growth, while grounding ourselves in our different geographical contexts and realities. Multiple truths and horizontal learning are enabled through small group projects, curriculum co-design, and creative inquiry. Readings and videos supplement interactive sessions, group discussions, and individual reflection.
Instructors
