Monica White, a leading advocate at the nexus of food and environmental justice, will deliver the Ostrom Memorial Lecture at 3 p.m. April 11 in the IMU Whittenberger Auditorium.

White is founding director of the Office of Environmental Justice and Engagement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and author of the book “Freedom Farmers.”

Monica White will will give the 2024 Ostrom Memorial Lecture. Photo provided by the Ostrom WorkshopShe helps bridge gaps by connecting faculty and students to community-based organizations that are working in areas of environmental, food and/or land justice toward their mutual benefit. Her research investigates Black grassroots organizations that are engaged in the development of sustainable, community-based food systems as a strategy to respond to issues of hunger and food inaccessibility in both contemporary times and the 20th century. 

This year, the Food and Agrarian Systems program became an official Ostrom Workshop program under the directorship of James Farmer. In honor of both the evolving legacy of the Ostroms and this new program, White’s lecture will examine “Freedom Farming: Agricultural Resistance and Institution Building.”

The campus community is invited to register to attend the lecture. A local group, the People’s Market Cooperative, will distribute some free copies of “Freedom Farmers” during the event.