Presentation short abstract

This paper examines the decolonial role of food festivals in South Africa. By facilitating intergenerational knowledge transmission, strengthening collective practices, enhancing spiritual connections to the land and creating an environment of celebration, food festivals promote food sovereignty.

Presentation long abstract

Drawing on Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s (2009) concept of colonialism as dismemberment, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2015:32) writes: “Decoloniality can be understood as an overarching project of re-membering aimed at addressing problems of colonisation of the mind, alienation and fragmentation. …a restorative recovery project.” In light of the ongoing coloniality of the South African food system, such a restorative recovery project is deeply needed.

This paper examines the role of food festivals in challenging the coloniality of the food system. Drawing on research in three provinces of South Africa, where three different non-governmental organisations have supported communities to hold traditional food and seed festivals, the paper argues that food festivals can play a decolonial role. First, they facilitate intergenerational knowledge transmission, with elders passing on traditional food knowledge to young people through talks, demonstrations and collaboration. Second, they help to rebuild and strengthen collective food practices, as communities work together to organise the festival, prepare food and share seed in ways their ancestors did. Third, they contribute to the repair of traditional spiritual connections to the land by incorporating rituals and ceremonies traditionally linked to the agricultural calendar. And fourth, festivals create an environment of joy and celebration in which healing and recovery can take place. While the festivals differ in size, duration and format, they share a commitment to reviving traditional foods and the traditional cultural practices linked to them, as a step towards food sovereignty.