Complicating food security: Definitions, discourses, commitments

Authors

  • William Ramp Department of Sociology, The University of Lethbridge Research Associate, The Prentice Institute for Global Population & Economy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25336/P6VG77

Keywords:

food security, food justice, sustainability, risk, discourse

Abstract

Food security is now commonly seen as one of the defining global issues of the century, intertwined with population and consumption shifts, climate change, environmental degradation, water scarcity, and the geopolitics attending globalization. Some analysts suggest that food security threats are so urgent that philosophical scruples must be set aside in order to concentrate all resources on developing and implementing radical strategies to avert a looming civilizational crisis. This article suggests that definitions of food security invoke commitments and have consequences, and that continued critical and conceptual attention to the language employed in food security research and policy is warranted.

Author Biography

William Ramp, Department of Sociology, The University of Lethbridge Research Associate, The Prentice Institute for Global Population & Economy

Associate professor, Department of Sociology; Research Associate, The Prentice Institute for Global Population & Economy

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Published

2014-12-10