glean
Community-engaged food research
We are a non-profit organisation working with community to develop resources that map experiences of and responses to food insecurity. Glean is based on Vancouver Island, Coast Salish territories. We especially work in solidarity with Indigenous and irregularized migrant communities within this region.
About.
Our Aim.
‘Food security’ has become a widely used term guiding policy, research and education. This term is often defined as: ‘the appropriate access, availability and use of food’ (World Health Organisation).
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This definition and how it is applied often fails to reflect community’s diverse perspectives. Glean provide tools that empower community to create visual resources reflecting intimate understandings of diverse 'foodscapes'. These resources call into question how food - and our knowledge of food - is produced, accessed, experienced and consumed.
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We make many of these resources available online through our digital library. We also work with communities to advocate for the integration of these resources into educational curriculum and policy.
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Glean (verb)
: to carefully gather food that has been left behind after a field has been harvested
Our approach is shaped by this important practice. Much like a gleaner who explores an agricultural field in order to discover what has been left behind, we carefully explore what has been disgarded in contemporary food discourses. In particular, we examine policy and research fields, surveying what experiences and information have been undervalued and cast aside. We work collectivey to gather these experiences and information. We work together to glean how these materials which have been forgotten might be valued today.
Our Approach.
