Searching for Food (Justice): A qualitative case study of the food environment in a low-income micro-neighborhood in Long Island City, NY
Item
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Title
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Searching for Food (Justice): A qualitative case study of the food environment in a low-income micro-neighborhood in Long Island City, NY
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:deb458ee5dff:11980
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identifier
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12663
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Creator
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Caruso, Christine C.,
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Contributor
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Gary Winkel
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology | Environmental studies | Public health | Behavioral psychology | Alternative Food Networks | Food Access | Food Desert | Food Environment | Food Justice | Low-income
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Abstract
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Problems of food access, food insecurity and hunger, are linked to numerous adverse health outcomes including increased rates of morbidity and mortality due to diet related diseases. In addition, these inequities highlight social justice problems, such as spatial segregation and neighborhood deprivation, within the larger food system. This project aims to explore the links between food systems, access, and food practices among low-income residents living in an underserved food environment in order to better understand the current barriers and struggles related to accessing healthy and desirable foods. This project focuses on the Queensbridge micro-neighborhood located within the larger neighborhood of Long Island City, in Queens, NY. Given the complexity of the issues surrounding the food system and the differential impacts on people across various socio-economic statuses the aims of this study include gaining a better understanding of the issues and processes involved among low-income community members related to the ways in which they source and consume food in the conventional and alternative food systems. The primary research questions informing this dissertation are: what are participants' perceptions of their food environment(s), particularly around the areas of quality, value, and taste of available products? What are the socio-cultural factors present in the micro-neighborhood that gets inscribed into the food environment, and how do these characteristics influence purchasing decisions? And, what is the level of awareness, attitudes toward and use of alternative food networks (AFNs) among community members? I will address these questions through conducting participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival research with members of a community-based advocacy organization, as well as community members living in and around the Queensbridge micro-neighborhood, and staff members and volunteers of area community-based organizations. Findings in this dissertation focus on participants' perceptions and experience of the food environment in this community utilizing a food justice framework to interrogate the forms of race and class based differences that undergird residents' food practices.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
