“The term ‘paradoxical Euro-American indigeneity’ here refers to the ways in which the United States, as a settler nation, both co-opted and erased the bodies of native peoples in order to naturalize the European claim to the land” (85, Tompkins)
“Corn was integral to the dietary system… Diets changed the most radically as populations growth reached its most accelerated pace to date. Growing urbanization spurred the separation of producer and consumers…. European growth relied on American plants.” (29, Newman)
“If Trump Builds the Wall, What Will Happen to our Food System?”
“The report found that stemming the flow of undocumented immigrants across the southern border—which currently accounts for between 50 and 70 percent of the agricultural workforce—would cause retail food prices to jump an average of five to six percent, and that ‘the quantity and variety of grocery store produce would diminish.’” (Modernfarmer.com, Barth)
In the third chapter of Tomkins’ book, we are introduced to Sylvester Graham, a man who was “among the most breathtakingly literary of the antimasturbation campaigners.”(53, Tompkins) Graham being one of America’s first nutritionists, claimed that dietary restrictions were essential to stopping an epidemic of youthful masturbation. He preached that through our pursuits for sexual stimulation as well as oral stimulation, the body becomes weakened and reproductive energies waste away through overstimulation. This was crucial in an era where Western expansion and the development of a “Euro-American nation” depended on producing healthy offspring of European descent while erasing indigenous identities from the American landscape. Graham perpetuated his belief that the ideal American citizen adheres to a strict diet, while also bolstering the mentality that an ideal American citizen of the 19th century is a man of European descent, who is married and utilizing their sexual energies to reproduce more “American” offspring. Being coined as one of the first locavores in American food history, by Kyla Wazana Tompkins in an interview on BackStory Radio, he was a proponent of the consumption of crops that were transplanted into America from Europe. Idealizing wheat agriculture and including corn as an ideal “farinaceous” food, expansion into the west displaced Native nations who viewed corn a crucial piece of Native culture, and who were the first to cultivate it. Corn became a hugely traded commodity throughout the 19th century, and a staple in the American diet, shaping a dietic identity. It was the crop that helped to fuel European expansion while expelling Native peoples from their homelands. Throughout the conversation of corn in a period that sought to create a white supremacist diet we are now well into the 21st century currently facing down a white supremacist presidency. Donald Trump amped up crowds on his campaign trail with his plans to build a wall and has since made many more horrific statements on his proposal to build a wall along the 1,933-mile southern border of the United States and to deport immigrants. This would be detrimental to our food system in many ways, driving the cost of retail food up while decreasing quality and variety according to a multitude of studies done regarding his strategy.
Barth, Brian. “If Trump Builds the Wall, What Will Happen to Our Food System?” Modern Farmer. Modernfarmer.com, 13 Jan. 2017. Web. 31 Jan. 2017.
Newman, Kara. The Secret Financial Life of Food: From Commodities Markets to Super Markets. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Print
Tompkins, Kyla W. Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the 19th Century. New York and London: New York University Press, 2012. Print