This course engages a critical theories approach to understanding both the role of hegemony in maintaining inequity in global food and agricultural systems, and the possibilities that the global food sovereignty movement present for liberation and social justice. Contemporary food systems and development topics such as climate change mitigation/adaptation approaches (e.g., “climate-smart agriculture”), land and water grabbing, food insecurity/food apartheid, Black agrarianism, Indigenous food sovereignty, contested meanings of agroecology, and the role of agtech in urban and rural locales are examined through conceptual framings that compel us to think critically about existing food and policy “solutions.” We study the relevance of framings including food regime analysis; the agrarian question; racial capitalism; the Black Radical Tradition; decolonial theory; and abolition to food systems at multiple scales. Throughout the semester, we ground our work in distinct understandings of food sovereignty articulated by grassroots movements for self-determination or governments interested in national food autonomy. We consider the application of such understandings to regional, national, or global food governance. The course is a participatory seminar format. Students work in groups to lead one class discussion throughout the term. The major assignment is an individual research paper and end-of-term presentation in which students apply conceptual framings to consider a food governance or policy initiative.