Food as a metaphor for the past and the future: a comparison between farmers and hunter-gatherers in the Palni Hills region in Tamil Nadu

This research takes as a starting point the way food, food consumption and food production is perceived among farmers and hunter-gatherers in the area of the Palni Hills. With this focus, the idea is to illuminate broader societal processes of political-economic nature, including ideas and strategies for creating food security in a world which goes through a process of thorough global agro-food restructuring.

In this respect, I will present and compare two cases. The first case is the Paliyans of the Palni Hills, and their combination of hunting and gathering and work in plantations, in an environment where traditional forest foods are still available and where the idea of food consumption is rather a question of political nature rather than food security. The second case is the caste villages around the Kadavakurichi hillock, a dry-land area in the foothills of the Palni Hills. This area is heavily degraded and suffers from a very low groundwater table as well as low rainfall and regular droughts, putting severe limitation on agriculture, forcing almost a third of the farmers to migrate for temporary labour in other areas. Here food security is a survival issue, especially for the small farmers and landless villagers. In spite of these problems the villagers are very reluctant to return to traditional food crops for subsistence, although this is recommended by some NGOs, to at least secure a minimum of food for consumption. They still prefer cash crop cultivation and temporary migration and a reliance on cash for buying food even if it creates a heavy dependence on the market.

The research will through comparison highlight the relation between cultural perspectives of food, socio-political processes and the environment.

Speaker

Dr. Christer Norstrom, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, Sweden.

Organisers

Department of Social Sciences, French Institute of Pondicherry

Venue

Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry - 605001

Time

16h30