Exploring Carceral Food Systems: Tensions, Experiences and Possibilities: A Special Issue of Canadian Food Studies
A growing number of scholars and practitioners have recognized the complex interconnection between food systems and carceral systems. Attention to this relationship renders visible the various systems of oppression that underpin and sustain the Prison Industrial Complex. Food offered by the State adds to the layers of punishment, but in doing so, it can also create conditions that may foster a cooperative and community-centric economy of food. Incarcerated individuals who have the capital (social and/or financial) to create their own dishes may be able to gain access to resistance, agency, and solidarity (Brisman 2008, Chalit Hernandez 2022, Jimenez Murguia 2018). Additionally, meals produced by incarcerated individuals can be a resource for the expression of culture and identity (De Graaf and Kilty 2016, Earle and Phillips 2012, Godderis 2006a, Godderis 2006b). Acknowledging the role played by carceral food systems has the potential to help us imagine and experience transformative and abolitionist futures.
We invite contributions from a diverse range of scholars and practitioners who are exploring these issues and connections in a variety of contexts. Those with lived experience of incarceration are also encouraged to submit contributions. Submissions can take the form of research articles, book reviews, commentaries, or other Canadian Food Studies categories that can be found here.
Note that papers will need to go through either the blind-peer review process or an editorial review process of CFS, and an accepted abstract is not a guarantee of publication.
Some funding is available to cover the publishing fees of authors without institutional funding support.
Please send a 250-word maximum paper abstract to guest editors Ami Stearns (astearns@coastal.edu) and Amanda Wilson (awilson@ustpaul.ca) by November 1st, 2023.
Timeline:
Abstracts due: November 1st, 2023
Notification of accepted abstracts: December 1st, 2023
Full drafts due to guest editors: April 1st, 2024
Full drafts due to journal: June 1st, 2024
Anticipated publication: Fall 2025
A pdf version of the CFP in both French and English is available below: