Jordyn Moreno
My name is Jordyn Moreno, and I am a second-year student at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, majoring in global development studies and minoring in history. During the winter semester of 2022 I have had the amazing opportunity to work as an intern with the Poverty Research Network. My work with the Network has focused around the theme of ‘food sovereignty’, which seeks address questions surrounding how ideas and practices of history, power and justice are integral to food production.
My biggest role at the Poverty Research Network was assisting them with their research into the Sembrando Vida project. Members from the Poverty Research Network and Food Sovereignty Network have partnered with various peasant leaders, defenders of territory, activists, and researchers in Mexico in order to examine the impacts of Sembrando Vida on the ground. My role in this project was to thoroughly analyze a variety of interviews conducted with community leaders, activist, researchers, and technical advisors from the project on the topic of Sembrando Vida and find trends and quotes for the researchers to use in their analysis of the project. This task introduced me to the use of oral histories as a method of research and allowed me to develop my analysis and synthesising skills as I sought to critically examine the oral histories at hand and pull out information that could be useful. I also had the privilege of being able to write my own blog post for the Poverty Research Network website on my findings from the interviews that I analyzed.
The different tasks that I was assigned while working with the Poverty Research Network allowed me to put the knowledge and skills that I have developed throughout my time as a Global Development and History student to good use in a practical work environment. Additionally, these tasks have helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of ‘food sovereignty’ while also allowing me to see what it looked like in both the past before colonialism occurred, as well as in the present day. This helps to display just how important it is for us to analyze the past in order to understand the future and see how historical events can continue to have an effect on the present day