Overview

The ethics, sustainability and health impact of food systems are growing concerns in the USA and many other countries. Public History and the Food Movement argues that today?s broad interest in making food systems fairer, healthier, and more sustainable offers a compelling opportunity for the public history field. Moon and Stanton argue that linking heritage institutions? unique communicative skills with contemporary food issues can offer accessible points of entry for the public into broad questions about human and environmental resilience. Equally importantly, it is suggested that such an approach can offer institutions themselves valuable lifelines of new audiences, partners, and sources of support at a time when many are struggling to remain relevant, viable, and solvent. Detailed interviews with public history professionals, authors, farmers, NGO workers, and others offer insightful additional perspectives. Written by two experienced public history practitioners and drawing on both practical experience and academic scholarship, Public History and the Food Movement engages directly with contemporary food politics to offer a toolkit for engagement on the topic, challenging history practitioners to claim an expanded role for themselves in contemporary food politics. In demonstrating how public historians can engage with a topical issue while remaining true to the guiding principles of historical research and interpretation, it also offers a transferable blueprint for public history professionals looking to engage with other topical issues.