The Role of Community Self Reliance in Black Agrarianism

Event details Date: Friday, October 30, 2026 Time: 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM Location: Duke Campus Farm Type: Lecture / Workshop About this event The RePlant team is kicking off this year's Composting Theory workshop series with "The Role of Community Self Reliance in Black Agrarianism." Raquel Douglas (Brown University) and Mama Dorathy Barker of Olusanya Farm will be leading a two-part workshop on Friday, October 30th, 3-6pm at the Duke Campus Farm's Cackalacky Heritage Garden. Practices of self-reliance and interdependence are woven through the centuries-long timeline of Black farming and foodways in North Carolina. It's how elders made ways out of no way, how they fought food apartheid, and what many elders desire for future generations. It's a land-based cultural practice of agency and resistance. This two-part workshop will include oral histories, a hands-on herb and flower preservation demonstration led by Mama Barker (3-4:30pm open to all), followed by a discussion of Raquel's Black Agrarian Soul, which theorizes how North Carolina Black farmers understand the cultural, political, and spiritual significance of farming and land stewardship (5-6pm, open to members of the RePlant working group). Refreshments will be served 4:30-5pm. RSVP at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-role-of-community-self-reliance-in-black-agrarianism-tickets-2003062128748?aff=oddtdtcreator To join the RePlant working group and hear about future events, please sign up here https://lists.duke.edu/sympa/subscribe/replant. RePlant and Composting Theory have joined forces to amplify conversations in the plant humanities, and to consider, and work towards, ecological care in practice. This series is supported by the Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke's Office of Climate and Sustainability, the Revaluing Care Lab, and the Duke Campus Farm. Official event details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-role-of-community-self-reliance-in-black-agrarianism-tickets-2003062128748?aff=oddtdtcreator