We’re here today with Jordan Blekking, a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography who will graduate this May. Jordan has been a member of the Sustainable Food Systems Science team, an affiliate of the IU Food Institute, since its formation in 2018.
Q: Hi Jordan, thanks for sitting down with us today. Can you tell us a bit about your current research?
A: It’s a pleasure to be here. In a nutshell, I study how urbanization and food security are related in southern African cities. African cities are growing very rapidly, in part from rural to urban migration, but also from natural growth and birth rates. When cities grow quickly, it typically means things like improvements in livelihoods, reductions in poverty, and that sort of thing but, in southern Africa, where all the cities are that we study, that hasn’t happened. The cities have grown so fast that their growth has largely outpaced ongoing economic development. Poverty remains a big issue, and poverty is linked to food insecurity – what I study.
Q: I know you did your undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and Applications at Michigan State University. What first led you into Geography and your current focus area?
A: When I was at Michigan State, I participated in a couple of study abroad programs – one in Kenya and the other in South Africa. I’d always had an interest in sub-Saharan Africa, broadly, but it wasn’t until college that I realized, “Wow! I can go here, study, and work!” At MSU, I took a bunch of classes that specialized in international agriculture, and that got me interested in doing work abroad.
After college, I went into the Peace Corps and was placed in Zambia where I was stationed for about 3.5 years. At the end of my third year, I started looking at graduate programs related to agricultural development, and that’s how I found Geography at IU. At the time, my old advisor had a research project in Zambia and so, for my first four years of grad school, I was able to go back for three or four months. I was able to see a lot of the same people I worked with when I was in Peace Corps and travel all around the country, which was fantastic.
Having spent so much time in Zambia as a volunteer and in grad school and seeing all these cities just keep growing, I switched to studying urban food security, once I’d finished my Master’s degree. Typically, food security in southern Africa is thought of in terms of production, in the sense that, if there’s a shortage of rainfall, for instance, there will be a food shortage and, worst-case scenario, hunger. But that isn’t the entire story of food security, particularly in cities. I wanted to know how food security is different in urban and rural areas and what some of the nuances are in urban food security, especially as cities grow and develop.
Q: Does your dissertation dive into a specific facet of this topic?
A: Yes. As a geographer, I’m interested in understanding how people navigate their local environment – their physical geography – to get what they need to live. Specifically, I’m interested in how urbanization and food security are related to space. How, for instance, a household’s location might impact their ability to get food, their ability to consume food that they like, and even how connected they feel to their food system. The food systems of cities in the region are also rapidly transforming, and one of the big transformers of food systems in the region is the introduction of supermarkets. Big global chains like Walmart now have subsidiaries in the region and food consumption trends related to supermarkets are changing people’s diets and preferences for food.
Q: Have there been any things in your research so far that have surprised you?
A: Yeah, there are a few things. One of the things is that planners in the cities don’t necessarily plan directly to build
supermarkets, but the policies that they implement to modernize African cities do support them. And then, at the same time, for fear of public health outbreaks, policymakers opt to “clean” the streets of unregistered street vendors and other food suppliers, and people who aren’t legitimate in the eyes of the government, but still hold these incredibly important roles, are pushed out of the food system. It’s interesting because I think their intentions are good when it comes to urban planning – they’re trying to advance their cities for the good of the people – but, every action has a reaction and, in an effort to create a cleaner, more tidy, more “sophisticated” city, I think some of the policies are harming people that are the most vulnerable, like people who rely on the woman down the road selling vegetables at a much cheaper price and a more geographically accessible location.
I don’t argue that supermarkets are bad, but I think the bigger problem is that other retailers aren’t considered when it comes to urban planning. Public markets have traditionally been an incredibly important actor within the food system, but our research shows that, in Lusaka, there have only been a few government-funded public markets developed in the past 20 years, whereas supermarkets have grown by over 600%. While supermarkets aren’t inherently bad, developing a food system tailored to them is an issue because a lot of folks can’t afford the amounts of food they sell or it’s difficult to travel there.
Q: Are the supermarkets sourcing from any of these local producers?
A:That’s a great question. There’s evidence that, in the region, broadly, the food can come from local producers. But, most often, in Zambia, it comes from South Africa or other areas beyond Zambia’s border. Eggs, fruits like apples, bananas, things like that, they’re typically imported, and other greens or other vegetables are also coming from South Africa. Some supermarkets have tried to source locally, and I think that they’re getting better at integrating local production, but it’s still not been very helpful for the local food system or for food security in the area. The majority of local production goes through public, open-air markets which our research finds have been largely ignored in recent urban development initiatives.
Cities in southern Africa are also growing rapidly outward and, as they grow, households need to have access to services like water, sanitation and electricity, but also public markets. Supermarkets aren’t going to be established in low-income areas and, without the support of government or other entities, there won’t be development of more informal markets either. That’s a big issue in terms of ensuring food security. There will be smaller shops and street vendors operating locally, but those are fairly limited in what they provide and how they operate, not to mention that they often source their food products from public markets.
The above GIF shows the development of two types of public markets and supermarkets developing over time across Lusaka, Zambia from 2004 to 2020. Underlying the points on the map are the population densities of Lusaka’s 94 residential areas.
Q: Have you found any interesting crossovers between what you see in your research in these Zambian cities and in your research here in the US?
A: What comes to mind is that, in food systems, whether in the state next door or halfway around the world, sustainability is key. The monoculture-type commodity crop production that happens here in the US is happening there as well. South Africa is such a big influence in the region that the food systems transformation and reliance on large-scale commodity crop production for cheap food has already made soda pop and Doritos readily available in Southern Africa. You go there and quickly realize the globalization of the food system knows no bounds. And in terms of consumers and the food system, equitability is a huge issue. It ties to the questions of what retailers someone can go to, what’s accessible or not accessible. In research my colleagues are conducting here in Indiana, food security is closely linked to physical access, and it’s the same in Zambia. If you lack a car, you’re really kind of restricted in what you can do in terms of walking or taking public transportation.
Q: So, as you look toward the end of the year, and the end of your time here as a student, what are your hopes for what comes next?
A: I love research, but I particularly love teaching, and it’s actually one of the things that I miss the most. I’ve been fortunate here at IU to have funding through SFSS and the Ostrom Workshop, to the point that I’ve only taught for one semester, but I really love teaching and working with students. What I’m angling for is to get a job that’s related to teaching and allows me to continue research related to food security and food systems.
I received a Fulbright Hays Fellowship in 2019 and I was supposed to go to Zambia for six months in 2020 but, because of Covid, I had to come back early. I haven’t been back since, but I really miss working abroad, specifically in Zambia. I have so many good friends in Zambia and I’ve always really enjoyed my time there. I think a lot of times, what motivates me most in my work is thinking, “Okay, the quicker I get this done and can get a job, I can fund my own work and I can go back.” There’s still so much I want to learn about and work with people on!
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