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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Date: January 15, 2019 at 11:52:08 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Subject: H-Net Review [H-AmIndian]: Fazzino on Levi, 'Food Control and > Resistance: Rations and Indigenous Peoples in the United States and South > Australia' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > > Tamara Levi. Food Control and Resistance: Rations and Indigenous > Peoples in the United States and South Australia. Plains Histories > Series. Lubbock Texas Tech University Press, 2016. 280 pp. $65.00 > (cloth), ISBN 978-0-89672-963-6; $39.95 (paper), ISBN > 978-0-89672-964-3. > > Reviewed by David Fazzino (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania) > Published on H-AmIndian (January, 2019) > Commissioned by F. Evan Nooe > > Food Rations and Power in the United States and Southern Australia > > A concise and excellent review of Tamara Levi's_ Food Control and > Resistance: Rations and Indigenous Peoples in the United States and > South Australia_ is given by Walter R. Echo-Hawk in the first few > pages of the book. This "Plainsword" highlights current implications > of the colonial legacies of settler states particularly as they > relate to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous > Peoples (UNDRIP) with emphasis on sovereignty and subsistence. My > review of the book will necessarily mirror some of the same > sentiments of Echo-Hawk. The United States and Australia both worked > toward creating material dependency and ideological conversion and > assumed extinction in spite of or in some instances because of > "humanitarian" goals, which clearly contradicted the letter and > spirit of the UNDRIP. > > Levi lays out the historical uses of food as a weapon to achieve a > variety of interests for those in settler societies who attempted to > impose their will on Indigenous Peoples. While Levi is careful to > note that this was not absolutely successful in terms of pacification > and assimilation, as Indigenous Peoples resisted to the extent that > they possibly could, these processes and protocols culminated in > increasingly controlling regimes that nevertheless weakened > indigenous subsistence and sovereignty. One of the eye-opening > aspects of this work is that it historically situates, and hence > grounds, current practices of exploitation along the lines of social > inequality that Indigenous Peoples face today from state, corporate, > and other actors. It accomplishes this by looking at the sometimes > parallel and sometimes divergent goals in food rationing in Australia > and the United States, which are explained by examining both material > and ideological differences. > > Food rationing is powerful because it literally allocates the power > of individuals and communities to live to their fullest potential. > Depending on the extent of this rationing, it exists along a spectrum > from provisioning for mere survival in the material/biological sense > to helping to create the conditions for holistic health and > well-being that allow communities to thrive. So, whereas food, in a > material sense, is an essential component of maintaining life, it is > always more for us, as humans. We are inherently cultural beings and > hence the materiality of food is itself rife with symbolic > associations and densely packed with meanings and memories of people, > places, non-human animals, and broader geographic and spiritual > connections. Hence, food functions to maintain who we are in both a > biological/material sense and a social/ideological sense. Recent food > sovereignty movements highlight that these two have been and should > be twinned in ideal food systems wherein Indigenous Peoples, and > local peoples generally, are able to control aspects of food systems > as the basis of their social, cultural, and biological reproduction. > > The strength of Levi's book is that it provides tabular data based on > archival research, which clearly indicates the shifting rations and > provisions over time. This data certainly highlights the variance in > the quantity and types of foods being issued as rations over time in > four locations: Pawnee Reservations 1857-91 (chapter 4) and Osage > Nation 1839-79 (chapter 5) in the United States and Moorundie Ration > Depot 1845-56 (chapter 6) and Point McLeay Mission 1859-89 (chapter > 7) in southern Australia. This data, coupled with Levi's selection > and analysis of this data, paints a clear picture that however this > food rationing was viewed, it was never sufficient to allow for a > holistic realization of community health in any of the settings > presented. It was, however, just enough to create a dependent > relationship between each indigenous group and the settler society > that increasingly and aggressively took greater and greater liberties > with the land, subsistence, and other resources. This dependency was > fostered through a continued diminishment of the preconditions > necessary for successful subsistence hunting. > > What is apparent is that, despite the claims to benevolence and > humanitarianism, the overall approach of those in the settler > societies (the United States and Australia) was to diminish the > autonomy of Indigenous Peoples and thereby create dependency. The > unique, place-based knowledge of Indigenous Peoples the world over is > highly particular to the ecological conditions within which they find > themselves; that is, it is local and particular. This cultural > heritage is not easily transferable from one setting to another as it > has been accumulated over successive generations in a particular > environment and may be key to the long-term survival of our > species.[1] At the same time, following Julian Steward, core aspects > of individual and group identity focus around the arts of > subsistence. These include, but are not limited to, religious > ceremonies, rites of passage, proscriptions against eating certain > foods for ecological or health reasons, identity, and reciprocity. It > is particularly because of this that the autonomy of subsistence was > deliberately targeted by those in setter societies who sought to > render Indigenous Peoples docile by "pacifying" them. > > Unfortunately there is no shortage of historical and contemporary > examples of settler societies using food as a weapon, one that can > act as both a carrot and a stick to discipline Indigenous Peoples > toward assimilation or extinction. Nevertheless, a variety of > cultural revitalization movements with foods at the center have > sprung up as resistance to colonial, neocolonial, and neoliberal > domination of food systems. These movements may be read in the > context of the longer-term resistance to control over food systems > and domination more generally. Although unilineal evolutionary > thought is generally read in anthropology as ethnocentric and > baseless when considering the complexity of culture and the adaptive > strategies that peoples within them exhibit to wrest sustenance from > the earth, it nevertheless remains a fixture in many current > narratives of the civilizing mission. As David Rich Lewis notes in > _Neither Wolf nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian > Change_ (1994), narratives of terra nullius in the context of > colonialism were used to place agency with settler societies who > supposedly "made" land productive through their use of tools and > technologies. The "civilizing" mission, in all of its guises, > depoliticizes the appropriation of material and ideological > achievements as a rational and just use of newly configured > resources. > > In the contexts described by Levi, food served as one avenue by which > settler societies attempted to maintain control over Indigenous > Peoples in a variety of settings. It was weaponized to control > behavior as well as punish transgressions. The use of food as an > ideological and material weapon or incentive to condition behavior > affected not only subsistence practices but also political structures > through disbursements through the head of nuclear families rather > than traditional pathways--elders and chiefs--for the flow of food > and other goods. Food was used as a weapon to control and contain as > a prerequisite for development; we can see the same dynamics play out > in contemporary discussions of development initiatives among nomadic > pastoralists who must first become sedentary in order to be > developed.[2] > > The overall plan for assimilation was one that kept Indigenous > Peoples in a peripheral and acceptable role, occupying the lower > rungs of society as manual laborers and farmers. This mirrors the > colonial approaches in other settings that also worked to segregate > boys and girls in proper pursuits.[3] Another shift was from task to > time orientation wherein rather than accomplishing tasks and meeting > everyday needs when it was right to do so, they were forced to > conform to settler notions of proper etiquette in terms of when to > eat, work, and sleep. Indigenous Peoples have responded by > decolonizing these time regimes.[4] > > The efforts of those in settler societies were intended to control > not only time but also space. The land that was once foraged through > hunting and gathering, the land that was once cared for with specific > practices that promoted the proliferation of certain species, was > reduced to a commodity for external consumption. Humans, historically > and cross-culturally, have played significant roles in shaping > landscapes through subsistence practices. The resulting landscapes > are, in part, anthropogenic but nonetheless are often represented as > "natural," pristine, and untouched so as to erase the meaningful > presence of those in existence prior to the arrival of settler > societies. Nature becomes, in some instances, something to be tamed, > through intensive and industrial agriculture, or, in other instances, > something to celebrate as wilderness. In one poignant example, Blial > Butt discusses how the landscape of the Masaai Mari Reserve was > created through a variety of factors, including human intervention > and cattle grazing.[5] > > Rationing further acted to root out what were viewed as uncivilized > practices of subsistence. Particularly, Levi notes that once > dependence was created and the efficacy of the hunt diminished > through lower numbers of Indigenous Peoples to participate in the > hunt, containment in particular land areas, and deliberate > overhunting by settlers, there was little alternative but to rely on > food rations. Hence rationing acted to curb attempts to revitalize > food systems early on. Today, the practices of subsistence often > operate at the far end of commodity supply chains fueled by > continuing capitalist expansion. They exist in the spaces in-between > while also illustrating alternatives to neoliberal food markets. > Nevertheless, the legacies of settler societies continue to hamper > the access of Indigenous Peoples to the foods their ancestors knew > through nutritional colonization, commodity food programs, and > environmental contamination. In regard to the latter, Indigenous > Peoples, particularly in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, must weigh > the health benefits with continually emerging risks of environmental > contamination, which often remain unknowable through mainstream media > outlets.[6] > > Despite these assaults, efforts at cultural revitalization continue > to throw off the yoke of colonization and the disease burden wrought > by commodity food programs by decolonizing diet as well as nutrition. > The persistence and survival of Indigenous Peoples in these four > settings as distinct entities have persisted and survived, counter to > academic theories of the time period and the systematic attempts to > dismantle them. In total, Levi's work reveals patterns of domination > and coercion by those in setter societies and hence helps to > resituate historical events to highlight the savagery of the > supposedly civilized in settler societies. > > Notes > > [1]. Eugene Hunn, "The Value of Subsistence for the Future of the > World," in _Ethnoecology: Situated Knowledge/Located Lives_, ed. > Virginia Nazarea (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1999), 23-36. > > [2]. Karen Marie Greenough, "Development Agents and Nomadic Agency: > Four Perspectives in the Development 'Market,'" _NAPA Bulletin_ 27 > (2007): 110-128. > > [3]. Fiona Leach, "African Girls, Nineteenth-Century Mission > Education and the Patriarchal Imperative," _Gender and Education_ 20 > (2008): 335-347. > > [4]. Kathleen Pickering, "Decolonizing Time Regimes: Lakota > Conceptions of Work, Economy, and Society," _American Anthropologist_ > 106 (2004): 85-97. > > [5]. Blial Butt, "Commoditizing the Safari and Making Space for > Conflict: Place, Identity and Parks in East Africa," _Political > Geography_ 31 (2012): 104-113. > > [6]. Harriet V. Kuhnlein, and Hing M. Chan, "Environment and > Contaminants in Traditional Food Systems of Northern Indigenous > Peoples," _Annual Review of Nutrition_ 20 (2000): 595-626; and > Patricia Widener and Valerie J. Gunter, "Oil Spill Recovery in the > Media: Missing an Alaska Native Perspective," _Society and Natural > Resources_ 20, no. 9 (2007): 767-783. > > Citation: David Fazzino. Review of Levi, Tamara, _Food Control and > Resistance: Rations and Indigenous Peoples in the United States and > South Australia_. H-AmIndian, H-Net Reviews. January, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52316 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
