Events and Speakers

In this presentation, Dr. Christie will share how an approach she developed as a PhD student of geography to explore everyday life and nature/society relations in central Mexico has been useful in work with small-holder farmers in Uganda and Ethiopia. She draws on feminist political ecology as a framework, using ethnographic and participatory research methods including hand-drawn mapping, journaling, and a milk allocation game. Focusing on food and kitchenspace has served to explore issues as diverse as aflatoxins and food safety in Uganda and invasive weeds and integrated pest management in Ethiopia. In this presentation she will share her research from the three countries, including reflections on the process, and key findings that emerge such as cultural resistance and adaptation to climate change literally in women’s hands and the importance of food for building and maintaining community social networks.

Featuring three sisters-based dishes from the VT Indigenous Friendship Garden created by Mohawk chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey, Dr. Mae Hey, and the rest of the garden family.

An interdisciplinary conversation on the technical, socio-political, and policy tensions of cellular, animal, and plant-based proteins

Join Mowhawk Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey, Peruvian Chef Krysia Lycette Villon, Indigenous Friendship Garden Pitmaster Nino Ripepi, Garden Caretaker Mae Hey, and the rest of the community in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous Cultures across the Americas. Join for food, music, and open discussion.

What cultural work does the label artisanal do? What people, sites, and processes does it "elevate" or ignore, and with what consequences? Taking processed meats and home canning as examples, this presentation explores how the appellations craft and artisanal can bolster hierarchies framed in terms of gender, class, and race. Attending to a wider range of production contexts compels us to consider intersections of tacit knowledge, physical dexterity, social savvy, and sensory power that occur outside the abattoir or atelier.

Dr. Andrew Smolski and Dr. Michael Schulman from North Carolina State University share their research findings about factors that contribute to black farmer sustainable livelihoods.

Tyson Sampson, a tribally enrolled member of the EBCI (ᎠᏳᏫᏯ ᎨᏯᏔᎯᎤᏁᏉᎳᏗᏍᎩ), will be joining us at the Virginia Tech Catawba Sustainability Center to lead an Original People’s forest visit. Tyson has been co-researching/collaborating/sharing/educating about harvesting and processing regional flora for 21 years and will introduce you to Original People’s woodland edible and medicinal species, both wild-grown and propagated in a forest farming setting. They will share useful nomenclature of the species we encounter along with lived experience, correlating uses, and approaches to stewardship and cultivation.

In an increasingly technical world, it is important that students learn the basics of computer science and data science. And while this need has increased, the resources to teach these skills are not equally dispersed in the United States. Furthermore, in many of the CS and data science curriculum, important cultural context is missing that may improve students ability to relate to the material and retain it. In this presentation, Dr. Posadas will discuss different programs that aim to bridge this gap including the Data Science for Public Good, which invites underrepresented minorities to Virginia Tech for the summer to work on agricultural related data science projects and the non-profit Katabasis who co-design programming games using an agricultural context to introduce young students in rural North Carolina to computer science basics.

The University of Kentucky Food Connection is an applied food systems center that serves farmers, food producers, students, and community members by supporting the development of vibrant and sustainable food systems on the UK campus and across Kentucky. Rooted in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at UK, the Food Connection supports their land-grant mission through transdisciplinary education, high-impact service and outreach, and grounded research on regional and regenerative farming and food systems. Please join us for an engaging overview and discussion about their areas of work and community partnerships that are central in cultivating sustainable food possibilities from farmgate to kitchenplate.

Dr. Bovay reviews the empirical economic literature on food safety, reputation, and regulation.

A five-part series running January to May 2022. Registration is now closed.

A cooking demonstration featuring preserved, foraged, and fished foods, as well as demos on fishing pole and traditional net making with Rick Rudd and Victoria Ferguson.

Dr. Kelinsky-Jones discusses the social science of agroecology by focusing on both policy for agroecology and agroecology for policy

Come hear from Center Fellow Dr. Jacob Lahne about using sensory-science methodologies to understand the sensory attributes of foods produced in Virginia and beyond.

Chef Dave prepares both sweet and savory tómales from the three sisters to show how they are versatile vehicles for flavor, as well as pastured duck.

Come hear from Center Fellows, Eric Bendfeldt and Mary Sketch Bryant, sharing about the 4 The Soil Awareness Initiative as a message, metaphor, and movement to find common ground, share stories, and broaden ecological and human health conversations.

Chef Dave demonstrates the process of preparing Mohawk baked beans as well as Mohawk/Dutch corn poffertjes and will discuss the historical influence of European contact on Native recipes.

Experience the cultural artform of social transformation through creative expression and community weaving. A podcast about the event with event host Josephus Thompson III, along with friend and colleague Michael Carter Jr. is available here.