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Abatemarco, Tatiana

Natural Resources

2011

PhD

The purpose of this study is to explore the ethics of local food and agriculture from the perspective of literature, women's experience, and philosophy. This dissertation contains three articles: a literary analysis of four local food memoirs, an ethnography of women organic farmers in Vermont, and a philosophical rationale for a local food ethic. The three articles can be taken together as an interdisciplinary humanist analysis of local food ethics. Interdisciplinary approaches are necessary in order to address the complexity and multidimensional nature of environmental problems and solutions. One aspect of local food ethics is the local food movement, which is a cultural conversation among consumers. Contributing to understanding the value of local food is an exploration of the production context. Lastly, a discussion of values and ethics necessitates a theoretical analysis of the key ideas in order to clarify and justify them. Thus, an ecocritical, ethnographic, and ethical interdisciplinary study provides a three-pronged approach to understanding how values operate in a human context.