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Browsing by Author "Kelinsky-Jones, Lia R."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Building agroecological traction: Engaging discourse, the imaginary, and critical praxis for food system transformation
    Kelinsky-Jones, Lia R.; Niewolny, Kimberly L.; Stephenson, Max O. Jr. (Frontiers, 2023-04)
    Shifting the current food system toward a more sustainable and equitable model requires an alternative imaginary. Agroecology represents such an approach, but despite the construct's promise, policy and academic communities alike continue to maintain the current system. We contend that shifting away from the existing, dominant food system requires researchers to engage stakeholders with discourses that give meaning to an agroecological imaginary. We provide a methodological case study for how interested analysts may build agroecological traction through critical praxis. We advance our argument theoretically, methodologically, and empirically. Theoretically, we draw on scholarship arguing that food system transformation requires a discursive imaginary. Methodologically, we outline how Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as both a theoretical and methodological framework, illuminates the discursive power that shapes the future of food. We first used CDA to analyze United States Agency for International Development (USAID) policy, and subsequently presented those results to focus groups comprised of USAID-funded university-based research-practitioners. Empirically, we suggest that our methodology represents one possible mechanism or strategy to encourage the dialogue necessary to secure a new critical food system praxis. We conclude by offering recommendations for future inquiry.
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    The Evaluation of a Women's Leadership Development Training for Girls Rock! Roanoke
    Kelinsky-Jones, Lia R. (Virginia Tech, 2015-05-07)
    Men and masculine qualities stereotypically define leadership. Role Congruity Theory explains that women leaders may experience a double discrimination. First, because leadership roles are stereotypically male, a woman may not have the necessary qualities. Second, because leadership qualities are stereotypically masculine, when women do exhibit agentic qualities, they are perceived negatively and not feminine (Eagly and Karau, 2002). Further, adopting a masculine style is perceived as an inauthentic leadership style. However, an androgynous style can blend feminine expectations with corporate needs, creating advantage and perceptions of authenticity (Tzinerr and Barsheshet-Picke, 2014). The leadership development training described in this thesis was held for female volunteer counselors of Girls Rock! Roanoke, an empowerment camp for young girls. The appreciative pedagogy included individual reflections, group discussions, and working through simulations. The evaluation of the training sought to identify: if discussion of leadership increased awareness of feminine and masculine leadership; if discussion of personal leadership experiences increased empowerment to self-identify as leaders; and what impact the experience had on participants' ability to improve and employ leadership. After participants completed the training, awareness of feminine and androgynous leadership increased; whereas, it is unclear if awareness of masculine leadership increased. Challenging participants to reflect on their leadership increased their self-identification as leaders, while those who already identified did so in androgynous terms. The training impacted participants' knowledge of themselves as leaders, how they planned to use leadership in camp and in real life, but it is unclear to what degree it impacted their ability to improve and employ leadership beyond the training.
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    International Street Fair Mural
    Fralin, Scott; Ebert, Matt; Kelinsky-Jones, Lia R. (Virginia Tech, 2018-04-22)
    These two murals reflect the collective experience of the attendees of Virginia Tech’s annual International Street Fair on April 22nd, 2018. Families, students, faculty, staff, and community members all contributed to their creation. We asked two simple questions: Where are you from? Where will you go? Responses provide a small insight into our community here at Virginia Tech. People are from a wide range of places including: Blacksburg VA, Sydney Australia, and Mumbai India, to name a few. And as you might expect, our community hopes to go to a wide variety of places too: Hong Kong, Santiago Chile, and Wakanda. Please spend some time exploring these maps and get to know your community just a little bit better! These murals were made possible through a partnership with Virginia Tech’s Studio72 LLC, Mozaiko LLC, and the University Libraries. Special thanks to Studio72 students who helped create the boards and hand lettered the questions. 2018/04/22
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    Self-Reliance and Land-Grant Universities: An Exploration of the Impacts of USAID Policy on Agroecological Possibilities
    Kelinsky-Jones, Lia R. (Virginia Tech, 2021-12-16)
    For land-grant universities (LGUs) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), achieving food security is a longstanding and shared priority. International agricultural development is entangled in competing imaginaries and ideological underpinnings. The coordinated social movements of food sovereignty and agroecology seek to transform local and global food systems away from the dominant neoliberal paradigm. Using localized and participatory practices, agroecology seeks to develop self-reliant communities towards more just and equitable food systems. Similarly, the current policy framework of USAID advances "The Journey to Self-Reliance" (J2SR). Yet the discourse of self-reliance reflects varied discursive meanings. The first is an alternative imaginary to develop increased community autonomy, build social support structures, and protect ecologies. The second reflects neoliberal ideology articulating notions of individual responsibility and private sector leadership. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and focus groups, this research investigated how USAID's J2SR discourse is represented, how it affects agroecological opportunities, and subsequently the impact on land-grant university food security praxis. Analytically, CDA foregrounds discursive power by investigating how texts, interpretation, and action operate as a system to maintain or contest unequal power relations. I employed focus groups with land-grant international development scholar-practitioners as a form of critical praxis. My research illustrates how USAID's self-reliance definition reproduces neoliberalism as a dominant political-economic orientation through anti-welfare rhetoric and private sector leadership. Alongside this, the J2SR discourse also actively promotes local participation and leadership. Subsequently, I contend, the discourse presents opportunities for scientific agroecology but also limits agroecology's transformative potential. A critical finding is that among sampled land grant actors, agroecology reflects epistemic complexity and competing imaginaries. Moreover, I illustrate how participants' responses to the policy corpus largely accept the embedded neoliberal ideology, while also demonstrating how some actors can use creativity to directly fund local research institutions. I contend that the creative modification observed among these actors represents the potential for land grant actors to serve as change agents and to support the agroecology movement. This research contributes to understanding how USAID frames self-reliance within their policy and where opportunities lie to challenge power structures and advance justice within international agricultural development.