The USF College of Arts and Sciences welcomed Dr. Vandana Shiva, a food sovereignty, environmental and ecofeminist activist, for its recent Frontier Forum lecture series held at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 7 in downtown Tampa.
Dr. Vandana Shiva (left) with USF College of Arts and Sciences Dean Magali Michael. (Photo by Marc Edwards Photographs)
Shiva’s lecture centered on why achieving food sovereignty is vital to addressing many of the problems plaguing humanity today, such as an increase in chronic health disease and climate change.
Food sovereignty, according to the Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty, is “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”
It focuses on the needs of those producing, distributing and consuming food over the demands of markets.
“Food sovereignty is the sovereignty to decide how you grow your food, how you will distribute it, and what prices you will charge for it,” Shiva said. “Food sovereignty is about freedom; it’s about interconnected freedom. I’m connected to the soil; I’m connected to my neighbor; I’m connected to the rivers. Food sovereignty is a collected endeavor of the common good.”
Shiva noted that 50 percent of greenhouse gases come from an industrialized food system, with 14 percent from the production of the food itself and another 20 percent from food being converted into a “commodity.”
Dr. Shiva signed copies of her latest book at the close of the event, providing attendees a chance to speak with her one-on-one before the evening’s conclusion. (Photo by Marc Edwards Photographs)
“Food is the currency of life, but food has become a commodity,” Shiva said. “A commodity doesn’t have intrinsic value.”
According to Shiva, 75 percent of garbage waste is food packaging.
She stated that a major shift is needed to start viewing food as the “currency of life.”
She also highlighted the vital role of women across the world in protecting food sovereignty.
“Nature functions through neutrality and symbiosis,” Shiva said. “Nature as living, woman as living, indigenous cultures as living, working people as living and created is the commonality through the ecology movement, through the feminist movement, through movements for worker’s rights and movements of diversity. At the end, they have the same roots and that’s how we will overcome the divisions that are bringing us apart.”
“If we can unite as humanity, we will be able to solve all of our problems,” Shiva said.
One of those first steps, Shiva urged, is working toward achieving food sovereignty for all.
“Our grandmothers always told us, ‘You are what you eat,’” Shiva said. “Working with the Earth as co-creators to create food sovereignty is possible. And the beauty of it is that it also leads to a fuller life. It leads to a happier life. Growing your own food; creating gardens everywhere.”
Frontier Forum attendees spent some time interacting with Dr. Shiva at the reception held just before her lecture. (Photo by Marc Edwards Photographs)
The Dean’s Student Leadership Society and Dean Michael helped to welcome Dr. Shiva to the Straz Center. (Photo by Marc Edwards Photographs)
“It was fantastic having Dr. Shiva here. Her work and her message are not only great
for everyone here, but gives us a plan of action to move forward in the future. I
think her focus on food sovereignty, specifically, is something that we can all practice
in our individual lives and also practice in our communities. At USF we’ve got the
Urban Food Sovereignty Group that is doing this research. It’s doing community work and engaging students, faculty
and the rest of the university, and this is exactly what Dr. Shiva is talking about.
Thankfully the Frontier Forum brought her here to share that message and to give us
an opportunity to learn about these ways forward,” said Dr. William Schanbacher, USF CAS assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies.
The event closed with Shiva taking some time to speak with attendees and sign copies of her latest book, “Terra Viva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements.”
Please visit the Frontier Forum website to learn about future lecture series speakers.