Food Security and Globalization

Curriculum Unit in KWL

K = What you know

W = What you want to know

L = What you’ve learned

What do you do?

What do you want to do?

What did you do?

 

There is not enough fresh foods available to the urban poor in the Midwest United States.  Food Deserts.

Western Africa still suffers from starvation and food shortages.  Food Deserts.

Corporate farms and big box food companies control much of the land and what types of food are produced and distributed.

There is a problem of obesity in urban areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How has globalization changed access to food?

Does the distance and energy required to ship “global grains” make sense in light of obesity in urban US and starvation in urban West Africa?  How are these interrelated?

 

What is culturally/regionally appropriate food?  Is a local food source possible?  What exists before corporate subsidized food?

 

To what extent do economic systems, corporations, and legacies of colonialism function to maintain food deserts, food insecurity, and childhood obesity?

 

Focus a discussion a study of the following concepts:

Globalization, Culture, Food, Food Insecurity, Food Desert, Food Sovereignty, Imperialism, Legacies of Colonialism

Review and analyze our understanding of “food”, where it comes from, and how it got to our neighborhood.

 

Review the effects of Monsanto seeds, farm land grabs, and globalized food in urban Detroit and urban Dakar.

Research efforts to return to local food sources in urban Detroit and urban Dakar.