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Just Food?
Forum on Land use, rights and ecology

A conference exploring LAND AND THE FOOD SYSTEM: hOW LAND AFFECTS WHAT WE EAT, WHO WE ARE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT WE LIVE IN

March 25–26, 2016

Wasserstein Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts

This year's Just Food? conference will examine the relationship between people and land, primarily through agriculture and food. Conference events will explore the legal, moral, policy, health, historic and environmental aspects of our modern domestic and international food system, with a focus on the intersection of land and justice. The conference will bring together scholars, farmers, activists, practitioners, and other authorities to discuss the growing concerns about who has access to land, how agriculture changes land, and who is marginalized or dispossessed by our current system. Our goal is to educate attendees, empower them to make changes, and engage them in a larger dialogue about food.

A conference schedule is available here.  For directions to the reception on Friday evening, please click here.

If you would like to be added to the waitlist for the conference, please register here.

conference features:

  • Three keynote talks, including:
    • A keynote panel, Racial Legacies: Land of the Oppressed and Dispossessed, featuring:
      • Jo Guldi, Assistant Professor of History, Brown University;
      • Janie Hipp, Director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, University of Arkansas School of Law;
      • Debora Nunes Lino Da Silva, MST Member from Northern Brazil; and
      • Tessa Lowinske Desmond, Director of the Committee on Migration, Ethnicity, and Rights, Harvard University (moderator).
    • A keynote talk, Land Rights, by Smita Narula, human rights attorney, advocate, and academic from the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College; and
    • A final keynote reflection panel.
  • Concurrent panel and workshop sessions throughout Saturday;
  • Lunchtime documentary film screenings;
  • A diverse poster and exhibit session, highlighting academic and community research;
  • A Friday evening reception for informal conversation, featuring live music and local food.

Questions?: harvard.justfood@gmail.com

Conference Mission

Our goal is to educate, empower, energize, and engage all to pursue justice in the food system in our personal and professional study and practice.

  • Food is everyone’s issue, whether you work on healthcare, the environment, labor issues, immigration, social justice, education, biotechnology, law, or numerous other fields.

  • We hope attendees gain an understanding about the complexity of the food system and the interconnectedness between the food system and other fields, including domestic policy, international policy, the economy and capitalism, and the environment.

  • The conference is designed to empower participants to work on bettering the food system professionally and personally.