Book Talk: Gather with Ashanté M. Reese

Dr. Reese will be joined in conversation by Dr. Jessica Walker. Q&A and book signing to follow discussion; books will also be available for puchase during the event.

About the Book

Food justice is defined as the understanding that our food system is unequal and that something needs to be done about it. But how can we create a world where everyone has enough? What does it mean to truly nourish ourselves and our communities?

In Gather, anthropologist Ashanté M. Reese argues for a vibrant new vision of food justice that places Black communities at the center and offers us a visionary, delicious path forward. Reese reveals that to truly create equity in our food systems, we must embrace the abundance that already exists around us--and recognize that the social body is as important as our individual health

Gather presents rich, on-the-ground stories of gathering around food in four spaces--gardens, family reunions, repasts, and protests. Blending rich storytelling with analysis, these chapters argue for the political power of food and invite us to learn from the tactics Black communities have long used to create sustainable, systemic change.

There are no simple solutions to the problems of acute need. But by recognizing that food justice is already all around us, we can start working together to create a more nourishing, joyful world. Gather is an intimate and urgent invitation to embrace local power, build better food systems, and nourish ourselves, body and soul.

Dr. Ashanté M. Reese is an award-winning author, anthropologist, and teacher. Weaving together food justice, geography, and care, she offers stories about the practices that sustain and free us. Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness (W.W. Norton, 2026) is her latest book. She teaches at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Jessica Kenyatta Walker is an American Studies scholar exploring food and race within everyday cultural landscapes. Her current project traces the changing cultural meaning of soul food through Black women's kitchen work. Dr. Walker received her PhD in American Studies from The University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently Assistant Professor of Afro-American and African Studies and American Culture at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.