Rise Up! School has always been held in the summer. In 2023 we are trying something new – we will meet during the winter months, when perhaps there are fewer distractions and a greater need for online community than during the summer! Check-back here as registration for 2023-2024 Rise-Up! School will start soon.
Rise Up! School is a free, 3-month political education and leadership development program offered by Community Alliance for Global Justice, where we create space to collectively develop tools and analysis to strengthen the global food sovereignty movement.
See 2018, 2020, and 2021 Summer School Resources.
Future Paradigms: Reimagining our Food System through the Lens of Food Sovereignty
June – August 2022
In 2022 our theme was Future Paradigms: Reimagining our Food System through the Lens of Food Sovereignty. Throughout the three months we met, we explored the seven pillars of food sovereignty by drawing on the victories and struggles of CAGJ’s partners. This informed our vision of what alternative food systems look like, and how to get there through collective action.
- What does Food Sovereignty look like in practice, in the US and globally?
- Why is it so important to move towards Food Sovereignty as the model for a healthier food system?
- In what ways can we tune in to our own unique skills to contribute to the fight for food sovereignty as part of a collective?
As part of Summer School, we :
- Work our way through an assigned set of readings, videos, articles, art, music, etc.
- Have a monthly webinar with some of CAGJ’s partners to discuss their work and how it connects to food sovereignty and liberation.
- Have a monthly guided discussion session to unpack the webinars and assigned materials.
- Have an optional social gathering session and/or in-person field trip to deepen connection between participants.
- Work on reflective prompts to better understand our role within our social change ecosystems and move ourselves to action.
Monthly breakdown of themes, including which of the 7 pillars of Food Sovereignty we will focus on each month:
June: Food Sovereignty as our framework and overall vision.
- Partners: Familias Unidas por la Justicia Farmworker Union
- Pillar focus: Values food producers, localized food systems
June Curriculum: Farmworkers Organizing to Build Food Sovereignty
The curriculum includes introductory concepts and context, guiding questions, and reading links. This folder contains an alternative format of the curriculum that just includes the readings and videos without the contextualization, as well as downloaded copies of some of the readings for folks who prefer a pdf. Everything else is linked through the titles in the curriculum.
Junes webinar is titled Farmworkers Organizing for Food Sovereignty, and features guests Edgar Franks and Marciano Sanchez of farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia.
July: De-commodification of food, “culturally appropriate” food and Food Sovereignty
- Partners: Block Corporate Salmon campaign
- Pillar focus: Food is Sacred, Builds knowledge and skills, Works with nature
July Curriculum: Indigenous Struggles for Food Sovereignty and Self Determination
The curriculum includes introductory concepts and context, guiding questions, and reading links. This folder contains downloaded copies of some of the readings for folks who prefer a pdf. Everything else is linked through the titles.
July’s webinar is titled We Are the Salmon People, The Campaign to Block Corporate Salmon and features guests Estefania Narvaez, with Co-Founder of BlockCorporateSalmon and digital organizer with North America Marine Alliance (NAMA) and Carl Wasilie, Native Fisherman from Yup’ik Nation in Western Alaska and part of Alaska’s Big Village Network and BlockCorporateSalmon.
August: Food Security vs. Food Sovereignty and corporate control of the food system
- Partners: AGRA watch and our African Food Sovereignty partners
- Pillar Focus: Puts control locally, focuses on food for people
August Curriculum: Movements for Food Sovereignty: A People’s Solution to Corporate Control of Food Systems Worldwide
The curriculum includes introductory concepts and context, guiding questions, and reading links. This folder contains downloaded copies of some of the readings for folks who prefer a pdf. Everything else is linked through the titles.
August’s webinar is titled Farming for a Hot Planet: Grassroots Alternatives to Corporate “Climate-Smart” Agriculture and features guests Leonida Odongo of Haki Nawiri Africa and Dr. Jennifer Taylor of Florida A&M University.
Registration
Registration is closed
Monthly webinars and reading materials will be available to the public on our website.
Commitment
In order to create a cohesive learning community, we ask participants to commit to attending at least two discussion sessions, to deepen your involvement in CAGJ during 2022, and to come with a readiness to learn and have fun while doing it!
Monthly webinars will be on Tuesdays: June 14, July 12, and August 9 from 6:00-8:00 PM Pacific.
Discussion sessions will occur Tuesday, June 21, July and August 16 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM Pacific.
For ease of scheduling during the busy summer months, we put together a Summer School Calendar with these meetings blocked in (compatible with Google Calendar).
Questions?
Email [email protected] to reach co-coordinators Deb and Rachel.
Past Iterations of Summer School:
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See 2018, 2020, and 2021 Summer School Resources.
To Learn More
Please email Heather ([email protected]) if you have any questions.
