Preface

From the Ground Up is a collection of undergraduate writings on the interplay between health, the environment and community. The chapters range from engaging pieces on life during the Covid Lockdowns of 2020 to the environmental artist and food justice activist Ron Finley who is merging community, art and food security in South Central, Los Angeles. This work also includes an exceptional analysis of the haunting legacy of contaminated waterways in Brazil.

The methods of analysis found within the collection include PhotoVoice and visual analysis—methods which have long been utilized within sociology, history, cultural studies, anthropology and community-based participatory research to achieve theories of resilience (via an analysis of community voices and community art forms) that literally emerge from the ground up.

Note: Some of these writings have been lightly edited for clarity, but in all cases, the base versions have been maintained to the greatest extent possible.