The idea of social justice for me was impacted by many of my personal relationships and the way in which I have been able to witness injustices throughout both my current work, previous educational experiences, and within my friends and family throughout my life. My coursework within this program greatly expanded on this in nearly every direction becoming very overwhelming at the start because it felt like I was in a box and all the sides were collapsing in on me as there was no justice and no way out. After wallowing in the metaphorical “collapsed box” I asked myself the main question being what can I do? In all circumstances as an individual I can only do so much. I will give an example from my food justice course about a tomato in a reflection that I gave after reading chapter one of Vandana Shiva’s book “Who Really Feeds the World?” I will link the book as well as it is an incredible read for anyone who is looking for inspiration to do more or learn about food sovereignty.
Free link for Vandana Shiva’s book “Who Really Feeds the World?” https://www.are.na/block/3845653
This chapter gave me pause in not only my daily life but the values and systems that I partake in. I was shopping at a Superstore on the weekend checking the produce; actively asking where is this even from? Crazy that we don’t even know, just mindlessly consume and try our best to make our pantries match our budget. This is what Vandana is getting at in her writing for this chapter: we have all been made to believe that something so outlandish, so foreign, and so unrealistic, is sustainable. While instead it is killing us and our planet with poisons and huge industrial machines that produce the same perfect looking crop. While I fill my cart with sad, tasteless tomatoes from who knows where, wondering why I am even doing that when they are in season right here in BC. Everyone else does the exact same thing, without question, without pause. Like the world keeps moving. Who really feeds the world is a very deep question because it is the individual and their choices that feeds the individual and their family. Who regulates the way we are fed? Who stops and says “I don’t want bleak tomatoes anymore?” Who changes the tone of the food industry? But this brings in the element of power in who can really afford to?
In the bowl are two types of tomatoes; home grown in my backyard and picked up from the store. It is easy to tell which is which and it is probably even easier to tell which one tasted better.
This pondering about something as simple as a tomato brought me to the deeper conclusion that sometimes the little things make the biggest difference. I had many late night conversations with friends about how the things that we do, although they may feel meaningless to us, can be meaningful and deeply impactful to someone else. I thought with this program I may come out at the end knowing all aspects of all social justice issues and have all the solutions but what I really learned is that the solution is only grounded in the outlook or individual perspective. Although you may have a solution for a social justice issue your lens is not showing you the whole picture on its own. Each course gave me a different and very valuable lens to see through but they are still not my experiences and therefore imposing my solutions upon problems that are so complex can be difficult. Society is vast and problem solving, although necessary, can be messy and must be approached in the right way..
This does not mean that I do not think there are no solutions to social justice issues. What I have learned is that the solutions are so much more multifaceted than I ever would have considered before and must be layered to account for intersectionality. For example, one solution for a food security problem for women may not work for women who identify as LGBTQ2S+ because there may be an intersecting factor that could be interfering with one group accessing the solution. Oftentimes solutions within our societies are used more as political “bandaids” given out by people in power who do not understand the issue at hand. What we need is more grassroots activists who have “boots on the ground” and are invested in the front line. Individuals or groups that have the experiences and the investment in the issue to be able to see it from the perspective of the people who require the solution, have consulted with the community that is in need, and are acting as an advocate or spokesperson for them, or are part of the community themselves.
Each class that I took dove deep into a different issue of social justice, a new way to approach human rights, a new lens to layer on. We covered injustices of women, Indigenous persons, people of colour, children, those identifying as LGBTQ2S+, of non-human species, of the environment, etcetera. We discussed at length different historical case studies of genocide and war. As well as the historical and current “solutions” to these injustices. We also spoke about how some of the solutions caused more harm and how representation is very important in solutions that will bring the best outcomes for those facing social injustice.