Analena is a scholar, activist, educator and mother committed to organizing low-income communities of color around food justice and environmental justice. She began working with CSU in 2010 as a volunteer while completing her Ph.D. at USC. As a Black woman and South L.A. resident, Analena is committed to supporting CSU’s important mission of improving the foodscape and building sustainable communities.
Analena is currently an Assistant Professor of Ethnic and Women’s Studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she is listed in the Expert’s Guide for her work on food, race, and health. Known to her students as “Dr. Hope” Analena teaches a Food Justice service-learning class in which students receive a reciprocal and hands-on learning experience at CSU’s mini-urban farms.
Analena also serves as a Board Member for the Institute for Sustainable Economic Educational and Environmental Design (I-SEEED). Her scholarly research investigates and complicates notions of food security and food sovereignty, and situates food as central to freedom struggles and contemporary liberation movements.
Selected Publications and Podcasts:
“Nurturing the Revolution” in Black Food Matters Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice
“Citified Sovereignty: Cultivating Autonomy in the Urban Core” in A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City
“The Pedagogy of Community Service-Learning” Video Podcast. Cal Poly Pomona, College of Education and Integrative Studies.
“Food Justice in California.” Audio Podcast. Cal Poly Pomona, College of Education and Integrative Studies.
