Department or Program
Environmental Studies
Abstract
There is extensive evidence that suggests that Indigenous groups in the Northern Hemisphere (specifically in the Northern areas of what is now known as the United States) have held empirical knowledge of food and food systems to help conceptualize the passing of time. In conjunction with seasonal weather changes and evolving moon patterns, certain foods have acted as annual landmarks in which tribes could better understand their calendar year as having a cyclical design; in addition to organizing moments of the year, dishes are also made to celebrate the environments from which their ingredients were foraged from. Thus, food can be used as a technology of natural rhythm—consumed by groups to experience their environment and track their unique understanding of time. Inversely, modern capitalistic markets use food as a technology of efficiency. Instead of using native foods to construct a distinctive temporality, mass market American foods construct a shared sense of time held by all its consumers regardless of their geographical location.
Level of Access
Open Access
First Advisor
Tyler Harper
Date of Graduation
5-2023
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Recommended Citation
Sheils, Robert Francis, "Constructing Temporality and Contextualizing the Passing of Time: How Native Foods Operate as Timekeepers / How the Modern American Food Market Manipulates Their Functionality" (2023). Standard Theses. 308.
https://scarab.bates.edu/envr_studies_theses/308
Number of Pages
65
Open Access
Available to all.