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.