Decolonizing agriculture in the United States: Centering the knowledges of women and people of color to support relational farming practices

Emma Layman ^1,✉, Nicole Civita ²

^{VISIT : https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8793816/}

Abstract

While the agricultural knowledges and practices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and women have shaped agriculture in the US, these knowledges have been colonized, exploited, and appropriated, cleaving space for the presently dominant white male agricultural narrative. Simultaneously, these knowledges and practices have been transformed to fit within a society that values individualism, production, efficiency, and profit. The authors use a decolonial Feminist Political Ecology framework to highlight the ways in which the knowledges of Indigenous, Black, and women farmers have been and are being colonized; a tradition that makes alternative agriculture a predominantly white space. The authors interviewed 10 BIPOC and women farmers in Colorado to understand what values and knowledges were shaping their often-appropriated agricultural practices. Three themes emerged: people, place, and patterns. By centering these values, farmers create relational agricultural practices that support the well-being of human and more-than-human beings. To support the widespread implementation of these practices, food systems practitioners must elevate the voices and knowledges of historically excluded farmers. Only then can truly just and equitable alternative agricultural practices be realized in the US.

Keywords: Women, BIPOC, Situated knowledges, Decolonization, Relational agriculture, Feminist political ecology

Introduction

The agricultural knowledges and practices of women1 and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have shaped agriculture in the US; they have also been colonized, exploited, and appropriated, cleaving space for the presently dominant white male agricultural narrative. Simultaneously, these knowledges have been transformed to fit within a society that values individualism, efficiency, and profit. Would the impact of women and BIPOC’s knowledges and practices be different if we, food systems practitioners, decolonized agriculture? That is, if we recognized different ontologies, worlds, and the many ways of knowing and practicing agriculture in those worlds? By centering women and BIPOC in agriculture, instead of limiting them to the periphery, the authors intend to help dissolve the dominant agricultural narrative in the US—that current systems, practices, and technologies are rooted in masculine, white, Western knowledge.

The role of women and BIPOC in the development of US agriculture has been all but erased, creating an entire agri-food system that actively marginalizes these communities. It is vital to reclaim spaces for these actors. By centering past examples of BIPOC and women’s knowledges as well as interviews with BIPOC and women farmers conducted by Emma Layman, the authors demonstrate a path toward decolonizing and creating a more just food system—one that values the environment, as well as the human and more-than-human beings that inhabit it. Using a decolonial feminist political ecology (FPE) framework (i.e., one that pairs situated knowledges and pluriverses) in tandem with stories from women, BIPOC, and people with intersecting identities therein, we aim to help bring these knowledges from the periphery to the center, making visible the existence of “a world of many worlds” (de la Cadena and Blaser 2018).

Before continuing, we must recognize the fictitious nature of both gender and race. However, despite their imaginary nature, these constructs have real implications for power and autonomy. Accordingly, gender and race are used in this paper to analyze how power structures impact the colonization of knowledges in—and access to—agriculture. Confronting colonial constructs and the ways they continue to shape our present is a precondition for dismantling and rebuilding equitable food systems.

Situating ourselves

Historically, white women have forced colonial systems onto women of color (Simpson 2017, pp. 95–99). As white women, we, the authors, must grapple with the potential for this research and writing to reinforce systems that steal, appropriate, and erase the knowledges of colonized peoples. In our professions, as in our lives, we must continually and critically engage with the ways our positionalities influence our work: We are financially secure, able-bodied, cisgender, white women. We have been educated and live in a society that is built on stolen lands and resists the idea of redressing that wrong. We hold advanced degrees from institutions that reify the idea of a singular and universal view of history and the world.

We come to this work from places of privilege. The inequities of the agri-food system have not dominated our personal experiences or relationships with food and land, though we study them extensively and actively engage in movements for justice. With this in mind, we have tried to critically engage with questions such as “Where does [X] theory come from? What is the context? Who generated it?… Can I use it in an ethical and appropriate way (my ethics and theirs) given the colonial context within which scholarship and publishing take place?” (Simpson 2017, p. 63). These questions have served as a starting point for ethically and conscientiously determining which knowledges to include in this paper as well as how to engage with them.

The colonization of knowledge and self: understanding to dismantle the system