Abstract
In recent years, the alternative food movement has flourished as a response to injustices produced by the industrial food system in the United States. As such, many people have lauded the movement for its capability to address social inequality among urban, low-income minorities negatively affected by the dominant food system. In order to do so, the alternative food movement must garner participation from the urban poor. However, a number of scholars have shown that the movement tends to bring in the participation of white, middle-class people almost exclusively. Many argue that this disparity is due to discourse and practices that lead to implicit exclusion. Using semi-structured interviews and participant observation with urban farmers, the present study extends this literature by showing that participants of the food movement in Kansas City employ democratic language and ideals meant to create broadly inclusive environments but that in fact unintentionally build symbolic boundaries along the lines of race and class. This paper refines this literature by uncovering the mechanisms that make up a universalizing and thereby exclusion-producing habitus, through which unintentional boundary-making occurs.