Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Ashanté 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 broader issues of racism and gentrification, she shows that there are hundreds of Deanwoods across the country.