Greener on the other side: tracing stories of amaranth and moringa through indenture

abstract

My research, with its focus on women and food seed through the lens of indenture, has led me into the world of leafy green vegetables and their intimate connection to women who had been brought to South Africa to service colonial plantations. Leafy greens are currently buzzwords in the fitness, health, vegan, and vegetarian vocabulary. Occasionally, another leaf is discovered by the doyens of fancy cuisine, researchers or experts, elevating an unknown dark green leaf to superfood status. In the past few decades moringa and amaranth have gained popularity in scientific and culinary circles. This sudden spurt of interest in a food that has been traditionally eaten for years in ex-indentured communities, among many others, has often elicited from this community, wry amusement, confusion at its celebrity status or pride at its recognition. Delving into research transcripts and fieldwork notes, I observe, not only, how these communities consume moringa and amaranth, but the variety of ways the human and other-than-human stories are entangled. I also consider the impact/ benefits of the commodification of foods and seeds such as moringa and amaranth, on the many invisible people who have been propagating, consuming and storying the plant before its discovery.

keywords:

• decolonial
• herstories
• seeds
• indenture
• epistemology

Acknowledgement

The research for this paper was partially supported by the Desmond Tutu (SARCHI) Chair in Religion and Social Justice that is jointly supported by the Lund Mission Society (LMS) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa (Grant number: 118854). The author acknowledges that opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed are those of the author alone, and the LMS and NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard.

Notes

1 Most people abbreviate the name to murung' keerai.

2 All names are pseudonyms to protect the identities of the participants.

3 Many labourers had brought with them small parcels crammed with seeds, cuttings, and other precious items. Some scholars and historians of indenture, particularly within Caribbean studies refer to these as Jahaji bundles. Jahaji is the Hindi word for ship. I have not come across the Tamil or Telugu equivalent of this term.

4 While moringa is well known for its leaves, these studies show that almost the entire moringa plant is beneficial with numerous nutritional benefits. It is thought to be drought and pest resistant, while its seeds can apparently be utilised for water purification. The idea of a miracle tree could of course lead to its exploitation.

5 Although, both amaranth and moringa, have been consumed traditionally in local communities in South Africa, I focus, in this instance, solely on women with a connection to indenture. In South Africa, the labourers were brought in mainly from South India where moringa would have featured strongly in traditional diets. The study by Seifu and Teketay (2020) focuses on households that had been growing moringa trees in their backyards in Botswana with relative ease.

6 Prof Himansu Baijnath PhD, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Email communication, 23 September 2019).

7 Amaranthus hybridus L. subsp. hybridus var. erythrostachys Moq. and Amaranthus hybridus L. subsp. hybridus var. hybridus (Prof Baijnath, email communication, 23 September 2019).

8 Malai is speaking from the standpoint of a grower, and has distinct value preconceptions based on popular constructions of quality.

9 A version of the stories that appear in this article were presented at the Critical Food Studies Mini Conference in November 2019.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pralini Naidoo

PRALINI NAIDOO is a poet and storyteller and has just published her first collection of poetry called Wild has Roots. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of the Western Cape, Department of Women and Gender Studies. Her research is focussed on the relationship between women and seed within the context of indenture with aims to recover and discover hidden narratives of erased histories. She is passionate about social and environmental justice. Email: [email protected]