Pedagogy 2025

Abstract

This teaching project researches the history and legacy of sharecroppers and cooperative farming, both regionally in Mississippi and nationally in the USA, and how it relates to food insecurity today. What is the history of share cropping and cooperative farming both locally and globally? What is food justice and what makes it relevant to rural and urban contexts today? How can we as architects create a catalyst for teaching organic and sustainable farming methods today and how can these methods facilitate a dialogue on the effectiveness of both local solutions and global challenges of food insecurity. The Design Project: Program and Considerations Mississippi Teaching Farm and Food Insecurity Center is a new collaborative institution between the town of Brooksville, MS and Mississippi State University’s Noxubee County Extension Service. The Center will not only research sustainable food production and distribution methods but be a part of Brooksville and bring the benefits of this research to the community. As such, The Center is divided into two components, an educational center and a research center. The educational center is a meeting place for the community and where the researchers can bring the educational resources of MS State University into the community. As such, it is centered around a large meeting space that is both indoors and outdoors. The researchers live here so they are easily found by community members. The research center is where food is grown by community members and distributed to the community, but also where the researchers and community members experiment with new ways of growing and distributing food. The research center is centered around a community garden with a greenhouse and a food pantry.