On this episode we present a panel discussion featuring Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Raj Patel, Rafaela Rodriguez, & Kesi Foster. Together, they discuss how what we eat connects to labor rights, health, culture, and more.

Jessica Gordon Nembhard is professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, CUNY. Dr. Gordon Nembhard is a political economist specializing in community economics, Black Political Economy and popular economic literacy. Her research and publications explore problematics and alternative solutions in cooperative economic development and worker ownership, community economic development, wealth inequality and community-based asset building, and community-based approaches to justice. Her most recent book is Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice.

Raj Patel ​​ is an award-winning author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and is the co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice and author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. His first film, co-directed with Zak Piper, is the award-winning documentary The Ants & The Grasshopper. He can be heard co-hosting the food politics podcast The Secret Ingredient with Mother Jones’ Tom Philpott, and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy.

Rafaela Rodriguez is the Director of Partnerships at the Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) Network. Prior to joining WSR Network staff, Rafaela worked for over seven years in various national and international settings as an advocate working alongside human-trafficking survivors, migrants, and undocumented communities. In 2016, she supported the implementation of the second national WSR-Program in the dairy industry in Vermont and New York. She helped develop the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, the third-party monitor responsible for implementation of the Milk with Dignity Program, bringing dignified living conditions to farmworkers.

For more information on the topics of this episode, see also:
 wsr-network.org/
dignityandrights.org
rajpatel.org/

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