Special Guests: Raj Patel and Janet Poppendieck

Just a few days after Thanksgiving, a group of prominent authors, activists, food policy experts, academics and others participated in a Leadership Matters Roundtable tackling the global and local intersections of food, justice, equity, and leadership. The roundtable was recorded on Nov. 28 at 1 pm EST or 10 am PST, and was viewed live by the public at go.kfla.org/live.

Special guests include award-winning authors, activists and academics Raj Patel (FCF-08) and Dr. Janet Poppendieck (KNFP-05). The event was sponsored by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance (KFLA), and hosted by global-local advocate, policy entrepreneur and artist Tanya Dawkins (KNFP 14).

“Leadership Matters is a platform that engages Kellogg Fellows in important issues facing communities in the United States and globally,” explains Tanya. “This time we are delighted to address food equity issues with such renowned voices as Raj and Janet. Both are recognized for their knowledge of food topics ranging from childhood hunger and poverty to the real societal, health and environmental costs of ‘cheap’ food. We look forward to a stimulating discussion with other Kellogg Fellows, and we are delighted that the general public can listen to the discussion.”

Meet Raj Patel and Janet Poppendieck

Raj Patel is an award-winning writer, activist and academic. He is a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at University of Texas, Austin and senior research associate at the Unit for the Humanities at the university currently known as Rhodes University (UHURU), South Africa.

His first book was Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. His second, The Value of Nothing, was a New York Times and international best-seller. His latest, co-written with Jason W. Moore, is A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things.

Raj co-hosts the fortnightly food politics podcast The Secret Ingredient with Mother Jones’ Tom Philpott, and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy. He is currently working on a ground-breaking documentary project about the global food system with award-winning director Steve James.

Janet Poppendieck was a professor of sociology at Hunter College, City University of New York since 1976. Recently retired, she is a nationally recognized scholar and activist whose work focuses on poverty, hunger and food assistance in the United States.

She authored several noteworthy books, including her seminal book — Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement– published in 1999, which offered an important critique of the policies and responses to hunger in the United States.

Read more about Janet’s work in this far-reaching interview written by another Kellogg Fellow, Dr. Rose Hayden-Smith. Her article discusses social and food equity issues, including the seemingly intractable issue of childhood hunger, school lunch policy, poverty, wage erosion and growing inequality in America.

Committed to Change

As Tanya explains, the strength of the KFLA Leadership Matters program is the diversity of the participants.

“Leadership Matters formats are as diverse as the voice they feature,” says Tanya. “The Kellogg Fellows are activists, entrepreneurs, innovators, thought leaders and change makers committed to helping create more just, equitable and sustainable communities. We encourage the public to listen in to this important discussion.”