Exploring carceral food systems

There is growing recognition of the inextricable relationship between food and punishment, a relationship buttressed by hyper-capitalism, colonialism, racism, and other harmful approaches to social control. This is abundantly clear in the context of carceral systems, where food is a tool of violenc...

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Main Authors: Ami Stearns, Amanda Wilson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Waterloo 2025-05-01
Series:Canadian Food Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/736
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author Ami Stearns
Amanda Wilson
author_facet Ami Stearns
Amanda Wilson
author_sort Ami Stearns
collection DOAJ
description There is growing recognition of the inextricable relationship between food and punishment, a relationship buttressed by hyper-capitalism, colonialism, racism, and other harmful approaches to social control. This is abundantly clear in the context of carceral systems, where food is a tool of violence and control. Yet, in prison, food is also a tool of contestation and resistance, and a means of building community and solidarity. A critical examination of prison food is uniquely positioned to lay bare the failings of the prison system, and advance broader conversations on abolition, social justice, racism, colonialism, and capitalism. It forces us to reconsider and expand our understandings of food justice, and calls on us to include the lives, perspectives and experiences of incarcerated individuals in our visions of food system transformations and imaginaries.
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publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher University of Waterloo
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series Canadian Food Studies
spelling doaj-art-e0ba5f410c7f4bdc8f545a4dde1e9edf2025-08-20T02:28:36ZengUniversity of WaterlooCanadian Food Studies2292-30712025-05-0112110.15353/cfs-rcea.v12i1.736Exploring carceral food systemsAmi Stearns0Amanda Wilson1Coastal Carolina University Saint Paul University There is growing recognition of the inextricable relationship between food and punishment, a relationship buttressed by hyper-capitalism, colonialism, racism, and other harmful approaches to social control. This is abundantly clear in the context of carceral systems, where food is a tool of violence and control. Yet, in prison, food is also a tool of contestation and resistance, and a means of building community and solidarity. A critical examination of prison food is uniquely positioned to lay bare the failings of the prison system, and advance broader conversations on abolition, social justice, racism, colonialism, and capitalism. It forces us to reconsider and expand our understandings of food justice, and calls on us to include the lives, perspectives and experiences of incarcerated individuals in our visions of food system transformations and imaginaries. https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/736Carceral food systemscarceral institutionsprison foodstructural violence
spellingShingle Ami Stearns
Amanda Wilson
Exploring carceral food systems
Canadian Food Studies
Carceral food systems
carceral institutions
prison food
structural violence
title Exploring carceral food systems
title_full Exploring carceral food systems
title_fullStr Exploring carceral food systems
title_full_unstemmed Exploring carceral food systems
title_short Exploring carceral food systems
title_sort exploring carceral food systems
topic Carceral food systems
carceral institutions
prison food
structural violence
url https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/736
work_keys_str_mv AT amistearns exploringcarceralfoodsystems
AT amandawilson exploringcarceralfoodsystems