Changing Food Rules in Kitchener-Waterloo

Authors

  • Joe Mancini The Working Centre Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.37576

Keywords:

The Working Centre, alternative pedagogy, community engagement, sharing food, cultural change

Abstract

In North American society, culture is following dead end paths by embracing individualism and a work culture that is focused on money rather than meaning. Michel Desjardins and The Working Centre both identified this malaise. Over the years they traveled a similar pedagogical journey, re-enlivening an understanding of food, education and community. Michel gave his students opportunities to move beyond their formed cultural perspectives to see a wider world with brighter colours. He asked them to consider why North American culture is restrictive when it comes to sharing food compared to other cultures. How can new teaching forms generate alternative perspectives for students? This essay shows how the joint Wilfrid Laurier University-Working Centre Community Engagement Option dovetailed as pedagogy to mix experience with analysis. The results show the potential of using education for meaningful cultural change.

References

Baum, Gregory. 1995. Foreword to The Working Centre Experiment in Social Change, by Kenneth Westhues, iv-vi. Kitchener, ON: Working Centre.

Cohen, Leonard. 1992. “Democracy.” On The Future. New York: Columbia Records.

Community Engagement Option Student Feedback Report. 2015. 14 April. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University.

Desjardins, Michel and Ellen Desjardins. 2009. “Food That Builds Community: The Sikh Langar in Canada.” Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures 1(2). http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/037851ar

Desjardins, Michel. 2016. “The Desjardins Diet for World Religions Paradigm Loss.” In After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies, edited by Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685276-12341522

Freire, Paolo. 2014 [1970]. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. London: Bloomsbury.

Mancini, Joe and Stephanie Mancini. 2015. Transition to Common Work: Building Community at The Working Centre. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Pollan, Michael. 2013. Cooked: The Natural History of Transformation. New York: Penguin.

Westhues, Kenneth. 1995. The Working Centre Experiment in Social Change. Kitchener, ON: Working Centre.

Downloads

Published

2019-05-14

How to Cite

Mancini, J. (2019). Changing Food Rules in Kitchener-Waterloo. Religious Studies and Theology, 38(1-2), 209-217. https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.37576