Josh Sbicca

Josh Sbicca has been working as an activist and a scholar since 2001. He graduated from Santa Clara University with a BS in Sociology and Political Science, but during those years and the two years after graduation he worked on everything from anti-war and labor struggles, to environmental issues. He is currently working as a graduate student in Sociology at the University of Florida. As a participatory researcher, he gradually has been learning from communities in both Florida and California how they are pro-actively creating sustainable urban environments that directly challenge status quo models of social organization, economics and urban planning. He believes that communities have a right to self determination regarding decisions that directly impact their ability to live in an increasingly polluted and unhealthy world. The political framing of food justice by those in the alternative food and farming movement carves out rhetorical and lived spaces for communities and organizations to build alliances across ideological, racial and economic boundaries. Therefore, it is Josh's hope that by balancing both academics and activism, he can more fully actualize the vision he has for this world - a vision that at core is prioritizing solidarity, justice, diversity, and sustainability.