By Allison Curley
In my Archaeology and World Prehistory class, we are exploring themes of human food production and consumption over time and connecting historical issues to contemporary ones being presented in the Clarke Forum speaker series on Food. By looking deeper into human history, some trends appear that can be likened to challenges that people face today, particularly related to food security.
In his Clarke Forum lecture “The World That Food Made” on September 8th, Dr. Raj Patel focused on framing food insecurity in terms of political economy, patriarchy, and the impact of colonialism. He cited examples of how globalization and colonization created a market economy in which trade was prioritized over subsistence as governments became more influential in agribusiness than individual farmers. Incorporating his research in Malawi as a case study, Patel demonstrated the ways in which the introduction of a western market economy and the implementation of cash crop and monocrop agriculture contributed to an increase of food insecurity among the farmers producing the crops.
Farmers in Malawi were left without enough to meet their dietary needs after their country, like many others in Africa, became a producer of crops for export to Europe and the West. The economy became dependant on monocrop planting and exporting maize, native to the Americas. In an effort to improve food security and strengthen cultural bonds, the community was encouraged to shift practices towards more traditional techniques of polyculture involving other American crops that benefit maize such as beans and squash. Further, an annual event was spearheaded where participants, both men and women, share recipes and learn to prepare new dishes using the crops they have been growing. This resulted in breaking down patriarchal gender roles and uneven household labor distribution that led women to struggle with balancing cultivation and child-rearing. This ultimately helped improve the health of the households. Through working with the people of Malawi, Patel and his colleagues showed that a combination of reintroducing polyculture and strengthening a shared sense of community and culture ultimately improved the health and nourishment of the people.
Archaeology can provide a supplementary lens into past trends of food insecurity and unequal distribution that complement Patel’s current and historical exploration of these topics. An archaeological perspective can be used to examine patterns of food security over a larger time scale. In her recent article “Why Can’t People Feed Themselves?: Archaeology as Alternative Archive of Food Security in Banda, Ghana”, Amanda Logan uses an archaeological case study to argue that power relationships and economics have a greater influence on overall food security than do natural processes. Examining paleoclimatic studies using methods like oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis to model past climatic conditions, she identified two main periods of drought in this region of Ghana: a long period in the Kuulo phase, 1450-1650 C.E., and a smaller one in the modern phase, 2009-present. By examining food availability, access, and preference through archaeological plant remains, Logan reconstructed the relative food security of each phase. Evidence of continued production of more traditional and drought resistant crops like pearl millet, sorghum, and tobacco, while sustaining a craft specialist economy including ceramics and metallurgy, revealed that there was greater food security in the earlier Kuulo phase, despite a much more severe drought.
In Logan’s study, she observed that the rise of the Asante in the Early Makala phase, 1772-1820s C.E., resulted in a reduction in diversity of crafts and the loss of tobacco as a widespread crop, but Banda was still food secure. British colonization in the Late Makala phase, 1890s-1920s C.E., however, resulted in significant shifts towards minimal crafting, elimination of the preferred pearl millet, significant reduction of sorghum in favor of cassava, and food insecurity. Both the Early Makala and Late Makala phases were categorized as wet periods, therefore these changes in food security during these times can be attributed to changed leadership and trade dynamics as opposed to climate. Complex trade dynamics between colonies, Europe, and the Americas had a greater impact on food security than did another regional tribe assuming power.
Furthermore, a drought in the modern phase, with the market economy of colonialism in place, caused intense food insecurity while a much more severe drought in the Kuulo phase experienced very high food security. This can be attributed in part to the replacement of well adapted, drought-resistant crops cultivated in the Kuulo phase like pearl millet with high yield cash crops to be exported. The system put into place by the British reduced the diversity of the local economy and the ability of the people to support themselves independently, making them more vulnerable to adverse climatic changes. Patel’s work reversing the oppressive effects of colonialism in Malawi and Logan’s evidence that traditional cultivation techniques and diversified economy positively influence food security demonstrate that the onset of colonialism and our current world food system are the main influences on modern food insecurity.
In conclusion, food security is not a simple matter of personal choices. Complex interplays of politics and economics have formed a deeply-rooted system that favors great divides between excess and insecurity, while simultaneously reducing the resilience of the producers. Changes in the systems that promote food security are needed in order to effectively combat food insecurity. Archaeological evidence suggests that people had greater capacity to resist adverse climatic changes before these systems took root, but in the presence of these systems they lack this resilience. This is even more threatening considering anthropogenic climate change, the effects of which are projected to be borne most heavily by those who contribute to it less.
Citation:
Logan, Amanda
2016 “Why Can’t People Feed Themselves?”: Archaeology as Alternative Archive of Food Security in Banda, Ghana. American Anthropologist. 118(3):508-524. DOI: 10.1111/aman.12603