‘We have a lot of (un)learning to do’: whiteness and decolonial prefiguration in a food movement organization

Abstract

Despite the disproportionate food injustice experienced by Indigenous Peoples, Black people and people of color, food movements have been dominated by white settlers who have had limited success in addressing this injustice. Settler colonialism is increasingly recognized as a root cause of food insecurity for Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island; it is also a key contributor to food insecurity experienced by Black people and people of color. The racialized exploitation of land and labor central to both settler colonialism and racial capitalism continue to form the backbone of the Canadian food system today, elucidating the important role food movements hold in the struggle for decolonization and racial justice. In this paper we present a case study of the (im)possibilities of white/settlers working towards Indigenous Food Sovereignty and food justice. By analyzing protests linked to Food Secure Canada’s 2018 Assembly, we find that an implicit reliance on representation may have limited the organization’s capacity for change. We propose that unsettling (un)learning, organizational transformation, and participation in broader anticolonial/anticapitalist struggle–what we are calling decolonial prefiguration–offers a more constructive path to decolonized futures that support food sovereignty and justice for all.