During Annie’s corn tasting lab, and our viewing of Michael Twitty’s Black Corn, I left class thinking about corn in a way I never had before. In contemporary American culture, corn is a staple to the agricultural industry, but long before the crops commodification, corn was a staple food to indigenous people’s across the America’s.
America has a history of exploitation, alongside the exploitation of people often comes the exploitation of natural resources, corn being a prime example. For native people, corn has been a symbol of more than just nutritious value, but one of deep cultural and spiritual significance.
The American disconnect from emotionality and connection with the natural world leads to extraction and unwarranted commodification, and to diminished biodeversity.