Propagating Discourse: Community Gardener Motivations in the California Central Coast
Social Sciences
Sociology Department Independent Study
Community gardening has grown in popularity over the years. The practice has taken on a significant role in activism and food systems discourse in the contemporary United States. The academic community is spilt as to whether the practice empowers communities and stands in resistance to the hegemonic industrial food system, or if it simply aids in perpetuating neoliberal social and economic logics. Some scholars reject this dualism and assert that the community garden is both— that it is contradictory in the way it constitutes subjects. In this thesis project I hope to begin to shed light on the intricacies of this contradiction and complexity through an analysis of relevant literature and 187 gardener’s responses to a survey conducted at 20 California Central Coast community gardens about why they are motivated to participate. I find that patterns emerge among gardener motivations based on reported race, gender, and income. This suggests that demographic positionality is important in considering why individuals interact with the community garden and is in turn significant when interrogating the transformative potential of the site and its ultimate effect on food systems discourse.
