I’ve always been fascinated with connections and how they manifest both in human society and in the natural world. Nothing could happen without communication and the signals that organisms and humans send to one another. However, this approach is not often thought of as having larger societal significance, but when considering nature and society together, it feels important to let nature and ecology inform our understandings of society. Also, when looking at nature and food in an urban setting, it feels even more important to see the connections and have communication between biological and urban spaces in order for both to coexist. Attempting to see these natural and urban connections has been at the heart of my research.
This idea, specifically the idea of “communication ecology” is discussed in Garrett M. Broad’s 2016 book, More than Just Food: Food Justice and Community Change. Broad’s book has been my guiding source for my research this summer. His approach is a little off-beat, but that’s what makes it so appealing because a lot of the work that I’m doing and the approach that I’m taking is about looking at problems and information from unique and sideways angles. Broad discusses “communication ecology” as bridging “the study of networks and narratives to document and evaluate social change efforts that aim to advance community-based food justice” (27) and states that “the communication ecology perspective urges scholars to consider communication networks as a primary analytical tool for understanding social relationships” (29). For me, this approach is extremely helpful and allows me to see more clearly the connections between the communications role that I am taking at Rooted in Resilience and my interest in urban ecology, natural spaces, and food justice.
Broad’s book largely explores the ethnography of Community Services Unlimited, a food justice nonprofit in South Los Angeles, that originated as the nonprofit arm of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther party. His arguments are framed around this communication ecology approach and map out a narrative and network centered approach to understanding CSU and other food justice non-profits, as well as bringing the historical context into these networks and narratives. Specifically, he draws the origin of communication ecology to many different sources, including “the Chicago school of sociology, ecological models of public health promotion, and multilevel frameworks from communication and media studies” (29). This diverse background really appeals to me, because the research that I’m doing and my background is strongly interdisciplinary, as is Rooted in Resilience’s mission and work. One of my favorite things is that as the book is from 2016, his approach feels thoroughly rooted in the current time period and current American social and cultural climate, unlike some of the more foundational urban texts that I’ve been inspired by in the past. The communication ecology approach is especially powerful at our current time, with the current possibilities around communicating via the Internet, and the capabilities of social media platforms to promote and disseminate information over huge audiences.
“Successful food justice organizing must be driven by local storytelling about food and justice–conversations that emerge from lived experience and historical realities, are rooted in place, and are grounded in community-based collaboration (26).
One of the most intriguing aspects of Broad’s approach is the focus on storytelling. As someone who is skeptical of social media for its own sake and coming at environmental communications from an environmental rather than communication perspective, storytelling has been my way into communications and understanding how they work. Storytelling is at the heart of human interactions and it’s also how I am learning about the East Bay this summer as I spend more time here. Environmental stories are extremely powerful and they are a way to translate complex scientific data around climate change, sea-level rise, food production, and healthy food into stories that communities and people can understand, relate to, and act on. Broad’s understanding and use of community ecology in his research and findings around food justice inspires me to think more deeply about the connections in my research and the ways in which my communications role can be linked to environmental and community understandings of interconnectedness and intertwined futures.
Source:
Broad, Garrett M. (2016). More than Just Food: Food Justice and Community Change. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
Broad’s book is available through NYU Bobst’s online resources here.
These dual (or dualing) concepts of “communication ecology” and “community ecology” are very intriguing, the idea being, I think, that the politics and ideas surrounding justice and the environment are bound to the distinctive communities and communication styles of specific places. How does this play out in real life (or, to use a social media reference, IRL)? In the community of Oakland where RinR is located, what are the ideas of justice that are at the top of everyone’s agenda? Is “justice” the term they would use? Is there one community or are there many communities and how do you reach them? When I think of you and your communication ecology/community ecology, I think of NYU and the language and ideas you develop through this education? Would you agree or do you think your ideas come from other communities too — or instead?