Call for Papers: Food as a Tool for Social Change

Special Issue Honoring Dr. Evan Weissman

Submission deadline: December 15, 2020

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JAFSCD is calling for submissions for a special issue inspired by the life and work of Dr. Evan Weissman, who passed away in April 2020. Scholars and practitioners interested in being considered for this special issue focusing on using food as a tool for social change can submit a paper for peer review, a tribute to Dr. Weissman, or a Voices from the Grassroots essay.

Dr. Weissman contributed tirelessly to the community of food scholars as an editor or reviewer for several journals, includ­ing JAFSCD; as a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at Syracuse University; and as a collaborator with countless community organizations. Dr. Weissman had an unwavering commitment to social justice and worked through both scholarship and practice to achieve more just local food systems. As an academic and an activist, his work was grounded in community practice. As a professor, he encouraged this for his students, engaging in unique pedagogical approaches to bridge education both in and out of the classroom. As a mentor, he imparted a strong belief that revolutionary food systems change is possible. While each of us, current and former Syracuse University Food Studies graduate students, has our own memories of Dr. Weissman, one we share is the recurring question Dr. Weissman asked his students and himself: “How can we use food as a tool for social change?”

This special issue of JAFSCD will pay homage to Dr. Weissman’s commitment to social justice through radical, locally embedded critical scholarship and practice. The guest editors of this issue, composed of current, former, and affiliated Food Studies graduate students and faculty, will consider original empirical or theoretical papers on a wide array of topics that address the intersection of food studies and social justice. In addition to submissions for peer review, organizations, programs, or agencies are welcome to submit Voices from the Grassroots essays. Tributes from Dr. Weissman’s colleagues are also welcome.

Groups of authors are encouraged to submit where possible. Examples of possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The political economy of food systems change
• Local solutions in the time of global crisis
• Reflections on or strategies for activist scholarship and radical food pedagogies

All manuscripts require presubmission review and approval by the special issue guest editors, Katie Mott and Maegan Krajewski. To be considered, complete the JAFSCD query form by December 15, 2020. This step will include uploading your paper, tribute, or Voices from the Grassroots essay for presubmission review by the guest editors.

If your manuscript is approved for consideration in the special issue, you will be sent a link to submit it to JAFSCD’s editorial management system.

Questions? Email guest editors Katie Mott (klmott@syr.edu) and Maegan Krajewski (mrkrajew@syr.edu).

Read more about JAFSCD’s manuscript guidelines.

Note that JAFSCD has mentors and consulting editors to assist new and ESL authors; you can express interest in these services in the query form.

The JAFSCD Statement on Anti-Black Racism, approved by the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium members on June 18, 2020, together with the JAFSCD Equity Agenda, serve as guiding forces for our work. In the context of this call for papers, one of our goals is “To use the JAFSCD platform to amplify voices in the food system that are currently underrepresented in journal content.” The guest editorial team and JAFSCD staff invite and encourage submissions by community-based practitioners, activists, and others whose voices are less often heard in scholarly journals.

Photo: Dr. Weissman (at left) and a few of his food studies students in 2016 at Brady Farm in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse Grows, an urban agriculture and food justice nonprofit Dr. Weissman co-founded, was hosting an event at the farm.