000007687 001__ 7687
000007687 005__ 20240124114249.0
000007687 0247_ $$2DOI$$a10.6083/n583xv60h
000007687 037__ $$aETD
000007687 245__ $$aVoting rights: how the fetishization of organic compromises food justice
000007687 260__ $$bMarylhurst University: Oregon Health and Science University
000007687 269__ $$a2015
000007687 336__ $$aThesis
000007687 502__ $$gFood Systems & Society
000007687 520__ $$aThe organic industry has grown exponentially since the distinction was established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1990. While organic has become a household name and driven food sales for both corporations and small farmers, its popularity inspires consumers to buy organic food without questioning whence it came, or how or by whom it was grown. This establishes a fetish, which is prevalent in contemporary popular discourse and which is played out via a belief that one can improve the food system with one's shopping habits, known as voting with your fork. Using critical discourse analysis, I found that contemporary popular discourse reinforces a number of illusions about organic agriculture and about race, class, and gender issues in the food system. Specifically it (a) creates confusion, shame, and/or fear around conventionally grown food; (b) equates organic food with dignity, health, and/or happiness; (c) emphasizes the ease with which one can access or process organic food; (d) makes a social movement out of a personal choice; (e) applauds the consumer's ethical fortitude and/or good taste; and (f) subordinates or ignores the rights or existence of farm workers. My thesis explores the idea of contemporary popular discourse revealing a fetishization of organic food, which compromises food justice, particularly for the food-insecure and farm workers. I approach the problem as a pragmatist, using a food-justice framework explore the unintended consequences of fetishizing organic and then suggest meaningful ways of effecting change via policy and activism, rather than commerce.
000007687 650__ $$aFarmers$$011165
000007687 650__ $$aHuman Rights$$020381
000007687 6531_ $$afood policy
000007687 6531_ $$aorganic food
000007687 6531_ $$aliberalism
000007687 6531_ $$aindustrial organic
000007687 691__ $$aSchool of Medicine
000007687 692__ $$aGraduate Programs in Human Nutrition
000007687 7001_ $$aAthens, Kristy
000007687 8564_ $$9e169568a-00d1-43dc-86c7-02ae60d04dfe$$s1791439$$uhttps://digitalcollections.ohsu.edu/record/7687/files/Athens.Kristy.2015.pdf
000007687 905__ $$a/rest/prod/n5/83/xv/60/n583xv60h
000007687 909CO $$ooai:digitalcollections.ohsu.edu:7687$$pstudent-work
000007687 980__ $$aFood Systems & Society