The Origins of Food Inequality in the US South: Intersecting the Past, Present, and Future

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "New Avenues in the Study of Plant Remains from Historical Sites" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This project highlights an interdisciplinary approach to uncover the origins of food inequality as related to food production, distribution, and access across the US South. Our case study, Memphis and its surrounding rural landscape, is well known for its “Wall Street-like” slave-based economy and commodity crop (cotton) production. To situate the structural violence associated with these oppressive agricultural systems, we investigate three different plant-based materialities within this region: 1) documentary records that include interviews, diaries, overseer accounts, and census data; 2) architecture, cultural artifacts, and ecofacts recovered from archaeological excavations at enslaved African and African American and enslaver households; and 3) oral histories and contemporary narratives of descendant community members. We stress how a material-based, intersectional inquiry and praxis can provide an innovative way of dissecting these plantation geographies while engaging the historical continuation, influence, and impact of slavery on the region’s food system for the present and future.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Avenues in the Study of Plant Remains from Historical Sites   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology