Charles Z. Levkoe, Adjunct Research Professor

Adjunct Research Professor

• B.A.H. (McMaster), M.E.S. (York), Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
• Email Charles Z. Levkoe, Adjunct Research Professor

Biography

Charles Levkoe in the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University. His community engaged research uses a food systems lens to better understand the importance of, and connections between social justice, ecological regeneration, regional economies and active democratic engagement. Working directly with a range of scholars and community-based practitioners across North America and Europe, Dr. Levkoe studies the evolution of the broader collective of social movement networks that views the right to food as a component of more sustainable futures. Mobilizing his existing partnerships, Dr. Levkoe integrates his research and teaching through community engaged learning pedagogies and supports students, community-partners and scholars to be actively involved in knowledge co-generation. Through community-based, action-oriented inquiry and teaching and the development of placed-based action projects, his research contributes to critical discussions that inform theory, civil society action and public policy.

Current Research

• Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE)
• The Antinomies of Non-Wage Labour in Ontario’s Agricultural Sector and the Alternative Food Movement
• Engendering a resilient food system: a comparative study of food networks in Canada and the United Kingdom
• Nourishing Communities, Sustainable Local Food Systems Research Group 

Teaching

• Planning for Change: Community Development in Practice (graduate course at University of Toronto)
• Global Food System (3rd year course at University of Toronto)
• Environment, Food and People (1st year course at University of Toronto)

Select Publications

Levkoe, C. (2015). Food Networks in Canada: Mixed Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research. SAGE Research Methods Collection.

Brady, J., Levkoe, C., and Szanto, D. (2015). Borders, Boundaries, and Becoming Food Studies: Looking Back, Pushing Forward. Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation.

Levkoe, C. (2015). Strategies for Forging and Sustaining Social Movement Networks: A Case Study of Provincial Food Networking Organizations in Canada. Geoforum 58: 174-183.

Levkoe, C., Brail, S., and Daniere, A. (2014). Engaged Pedagogy and Transformative Learning in Graduate Education: A Service Learning Case Study. Canadian Journal of Higher Education. Special Issue on Preparing Graduate Students for a Changing World of Work 44 (3): 68-85.

Schiff, R., and Levkoe, C. (2014). From Disparate Action to Collective Mobilization: Collective Action Frames and the Canadian Food Movement. In: L. Leonard and S.B. Kedzior (eds.). Occupy the Earth: Global Environmental Movements. Advances in Sustainability and Environmental Justice. Volume 15: 225–253. Emerald Group Publishing.

Levkoe, C. (2014). The Food Movement in Canada: A Social Movement Network Perspective. Journal of Peasant Studies 41 (3): 1-19.

Levkoe, C. (2014). Lauren E. Baker: Corn meets maize—food movements and markets in Mexico. Agriculture and Human Values. Online.

Levkoe, C., and Wakefield, S. (2014). Understanding Contemporary Networks of Environmental and Social Change: Complex Assemblages within Canada’s “Food Movement.” Environmental Politics 23 (2): 302-320.

Levkoe, C., and Schiff, R. (2013). Le mouvement pour la sécurité alimentaire. Nouveaux Cahiers du socialism 9 hiver.

Levkoe, C. (2012). No Local: Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won’t Change the World. Book Review. Journal of Socialist Studies 8 (2): 252-255.

Levkoe, C. (2012). Food Sovereignty in Canada: Creating Just and Sustainable Food Systems. Book Review. Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (1): 293-297.

Levkoe, C., and Devila, C. (2012). Canadian Food Networks Map. In: D. Jensen and M. Roy (eds.). Food: An Atlas.  The Cartography and GIS Education Lab, Geography Department, University of California at Berkeley.

Levkoe, C. (2011). Towards a Transformative Food Politics. Local Environment 16 (7): 687-705.

Levkoe, C. (2011). Propagating the Food Movement. Briarpatch 40 (5): 19-21.

Levkoe, C., and Wakefield, S. (2011). The Community Food Centre: Creating Space for a Just, Sustainable and Healthy Food System. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development 2 (1): 249-268.

Levkoe, C., and Stephens, A. (2009). From School Meal Programs to Food Citizenship: Doing Food at George Harvey Collegiate Institute. In: C. Palassio, and A. Wilcox (eds.). The Edible City: Toronto’s Food from Farm to Fork. Toronto: Coach House Books.

Levkoe, C.  (2006). Learning Democracy Through Food Justice Movements. Agriculture and Human Values 23 (1): 89-98.

Levkoe, C., and Saul, N. (2005). The Community Food Centre: Building Community, a Healthy Environment and Social Justice Through Food. In: Kirbyson, A.M. (ed.). Recipes for Success: A Celebration of Food Security Work in Canada. Independent Publishers Group: Chicago.

Levkoe, C. (2003). Widening the Approach to Food Insecurity: The Stop Community Food Centre. The Canadian Review of Social Policy 52: 128-132.