African and Native American foodways and resilience: From 1619 to COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is flooding and splitting "efficiency" fault lines in today's industrialized food system. It also exploits centuries of historical traumas, White supremacy, and systemic racism to kill non-White people at triple the rates of Whites. In 1619, an English ship landed on the shores of the Powhatan confederacy, or, as the English called it, Point Comfort, Virginia. The ship delivered stolen people onto stolen land. This was a first step in founding today's U.S. food system. Until that time, the people of North America and West Africa had lived off the land for millennia, foraging, hunting, and cultivating food. But 400 years ago, the twin European colonial influences of invasion and enslavement entwined the lives and, to some extent, the foodways of Native Americans and West Africans in what is now the U.S. Yet, these communities are still resilient. This paper offers re-stories about how African American and Native American communities have adapted and maintained foodways to survive, thrive and renew, from 1619 to COVID-19. Methods include historical and literature reviews, interviews, and brief auto-ethnography. Even in the face of a pandemic, Native American and African American communities still leverage their foodways to survive and thrive. Some of these food system strategies also illustrate shifts that could be made in the United States food system to help everyone thrive.

Keywords: African American Foodways; Ethnography; Food Justice; Food Systems; Native American Foodways; Resilience; Restorying.

Figure 1.. A 1920s Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix Advertisement for “Plantation Flavor”

Source: https://namerology.com/2020/06/19/brand-curse-the-name-jemima-in-america/

Figure 2.. David Bradley, “Land O Bucks, Land O Fakes, Land O Lakes,” 2006.

Source: Denver Art Museum.

Figure 3.. Betye Saar, “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima,” 1972.

Source: Berkeley Art Museum.