“The whole concept is just a joke. A right to food?” A phenomenological study on state initiative in Vancouver’s food justice and sovereignty movement

Sammanfattning: This thesis is informed by a collection of discussions that highlight participant perspectives on Vancouver’s food justice and food sovereignty movement, mainstream food discourse in the city, and how the state’s institutional role is involved in prospects for the future. Vancouver, Canada constitutes an appropriate case as a dense, urban, and intensely commodified space with conspicuous pockets of concentrated food activism. A phenomenological approach is used on this food-based social movement, drawing on six semi-structured interviews with select participants stemming from a wide breadth of organisational expertise and knowledge in the movement. In looking at this food-based social movement, participants reflected on several aspects of obstructions to actualising food justice and sovereignty rooted in the existing neoliberal and commodified food system. In conversation, participants interwove narratives of Canada’s historic and ongoing processes of settler-colonialism and disempowerment, the dominant economic model, and contemporary social justice to further motivate the need for food systems change. This thesis concludes with potential paths forward in which participants hold optimism for the future of social solidarity and food systems transformation.