The Battle of Narratives and How It Shapes African Food Systems Today
In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay speaks with Molly Anderson, professor emerita of food studies at Middlebury College and a member of IPES Food, about the deeper power relations that shape global food systems. Drawing from her own journey into food justice, Molly reflects on how early experiences with racism in the United States, combined with her academic work in natural resource management and systems analysis, led her to see food not simply as a technical issue but as a matter of justice. She explains that while many environmental and food system problems already have technical solutions, what is missing is the political will to implement them, especially when those most affected have too little voice in the decisions being made.
The conversation then turns to her book Transforming Food Systems: Narratives of Power, where she examines how dominant stories shape policy and whose narratives get heard in international food debates. Molly argues that some of the most influential narratives, especially those centered on technological innovation and productivity, remain powerful even when the evidence behind them is weak. She criticizes the continued arrogance of powerful countries and institutions that claim to know what is best for others while ignoring the knowledge, priorities, and lived realities of civil society, Indigenous peoples, and marginalized communities. For her, the real battle in food systems is between narratives that reproduce control, extraction, and commodification, and those that center justice, agency, and food sovereignty.
Molly also reflects on the roles of philanthropy, debt, global governance, and corporate influence in shaping food policy, warning that many so called solutions continue older colonial patterns under new language such as modernization, green transition, and innovation. She makes the case that agroecology is fundamentally political because it demands a shift in power toward those who actually hold knowledge and sustain food systems on the ground. Throughout the discussion, she returns to a clear conviction: civil society remains the strongest lever for change. In her view, real transformation will not come from the powerful voluntarily surrendering privilege, but from organized movements insisting on justice, reclaiming food as a commons, and building food systems rooted in dignity, territory, and democratic control.