At the heart of Research Stories are the people and communities working for more equitable and safe access to food, responsibility to their community, and to realizing their rights as members of vibrant communities. Advocacy and activism for greater equity and realizing social justice tie these research stories—Dr. Leigh Potvin’s work—together.
This website is a repository of work that Dr. Potvin offers back to the communities where the research was conducted.
Featured Story
CAPE BRETON FOOD STORIES
Storying Food Landscapes: A community food justice project, also known as the Cape Breton Food Stories project, focuses on providing rich, descriptive, first-hand accounts of lived experiences of food. Cape Breton (Unama’ki) is an island located on the east coast of Canada and is part of the province of Nova Scotia on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. Too often, food in Cape Breton is presented through stereotypes: seafood and poverty. This research is an effort to show the richness of food culture and experiences in Cape Breton; informed by the Mi’kmaq, influenced by its industrial past, and its multicultural present. Food stories in Cape Breton focus on community suppers in Dominion where community members climbed a greased pole to win cash, the dedicated farmers and producers who supply local food to local people, and the emergency food providers who ensure that folks in need have something to eat.
These stories also focus on the advocates and activists who want to see more independence for Cape Breton’s food system and broader systemic change that will alleviate poverty and the food insecurity that often accompanies it.
