A presentation presented in partnership by the School of Social Work and the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) will examine the food security crisis in China on April 19 from 1:30 to 3:30pm.
“Food Security Crisis and the ‘People’s Self Protection Movement’ in China” will feature guest speaker Hok Bun Ku of Peking University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University Social Work Research Center.
Food security is not only a big issue in the world, but also a critical issue in China. Recently, food security has been listed as the first major issue to be addressed at the Chinese Community Party (CCP) Economic Work Conference, the Central Rural Work Conference as well as in the published “No. 1 Central Document” in 2014.
Food security in China is related to food productivity as well as food safety. This presentation will discuss China’s food security crisis, its impacts on people’s livelihoods in both rural and urban areas, and the emerging ‘People’s Self Protection Movement’ over the past 10 years.
In response to the food safety crisis, local producers and consumers are not passively waiting for government’s policy change, but actively seeking alternative ways to protect themselves through new rural-urban alliance initiatives.
Ku obtained is a professor and program leader of Master of Social Work (China) in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is also the deputy director of the China Research and Development Network, executive editor of China Journal of Social Work and associate editor of Action Research. In 2007, he became a Fulbright Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, and in 2012, he also employed as visiting professor by the China Youth University for Political Science.
Ku heavily engages in practice and action research in China. He has been involved in China’s rural development for about 15 years and has written extensively on topics related to rural development, cultural politics, participatory design, social exclusion and marginality, and social work education
The School of Social Work at York University is hosting Ku as a visiting scholar from April to June 2016.
The event takes place at 120 North Ross Building. For more, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/event/ku/?instance_id=466. All are welcome.