In this book, Ashante M. Reese makes clear the structural forces that
determine food access in urban areas, highlighting Black residents'
navigation of and resistance to unequal food distribution systems.
Linking these local food issues to the national problem of systemic
racism, Reese examines the history of the majority-Black Deanwood
neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Based on extensive ethnographic
fieldwork, Reese not only documents racism and residential
segregation in the nation's capital but also tracks the ways
transnational food corporations have shaped food availability. By
connecting community members' stories to the larger issues of racism
and gentrification, Reese shows there are hundreds of Deanwoods
across the country.
Reese's geographies
of self-reliance offer an alternative to models that depict Black
residents as lacking agency, demonstrating how an ethnographically
grounded study can locate and amplify nuances in how Black life
unfolds within the context of unequal food access.