Paper short abstract:

Colonialism disrupted and continues to disrupt indigenous foodways in South Africa through violent dispossession, Eurocentrism and interruption of inter-generational knowledge transmission. Historical materials and interviews with elders in three regions highlight ongoing coloniality and resistance.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents three key mechanisms by which colonialism disrupted indigenous food systems in South Africa: violent dispossession, Eurocentrism and interruption of inter-generational knowledge transmission. Drawing on historical materials, it illustrates how each of these modalities unfolded from the 17th through the 19th centuries, amongst the Khoi and San peoples of the Western Cape, the Xhosa in the Eastern Cape and the Tswana in the Northern Cape/Northwest. While each of these groups lived in different territories, with different cultures and geographies, there are similarities in some of the underlying values or cosmovisions that informed each group's foodways, as well as in the way these were disrupted by colonialism. Then, drawing on interviews with indigenous knowledge holders, the paper uses the lens of coloniality to demonstrate how these three modalities of disruption continue in contemporary South Africa. Finally, the paper shows how some groups are fighting to maintain traditional foodways in the face of these ongoing disruptions, using the struggles and cultural activities of the Amadiba community in Pondoland, Eastern Cape as a case study.