Oral Presentations - Session 2C: UC 330
CORN AND SYSTEMS OF GLOBAL COMMODIFICATION AND DOMINANCE: A CULTURAL READING OF ZEA MAYS
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Katie Kane
Faculty Mentor’s Department
English
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Corn's status as a critical food crop, and its location within indigenous new world cosmographies, illustrate the important sociocultural role the plant has played for millennia. However, modern society has elevated Zea Mays far above the status of mere plant, fashioning it into a commodity intimately connected to systems of control and capitalism. Consequently, corn has played an essential role in colonization, industrialization, and the advent of overproduction. The beliefs and literature of numerous new world cultures offer a striking comparison to corn's current position in western society. The far-reaching impacts that corn has on our socioeconomic and subsistence systems reveal a great deal about globalization, commodification, and dominance. Taken from a larger project, this multimedia presentation examines corn through a cultural studies lens, documenting the influence of this iconic foodstuff and analyzing its effects over historical and cultural boundaries.
Category
Humanities
CORN AND SYSTEMS OF GLOBAL COMMODIFICATION AND DOMINANCE: A CULTURAL READING OF ZEA MAYS
UC 330
Corn's status as a critical food crop, and its location within indigenous new world cosmographies, illustrate the important sociocultural role the plant has played for millennia. However, modern society has elevated Zea Mays far above the status of mere plant, fashioning it into a commodity intimately connected to systems of control and capitalism. Consequently, corn has played an essential role in colonization, industrialization, and the advent of overproduction. The beliefs and literature of numerous new world cultures offer a striking comparison to corn's current position in western society. The far-reaching impacts that corn has on our socioeconomic and subsistence systems reveal a great deal about globalization, commodification, and dominance. Taken from a larger project, this multimedia presentation examines corn through a cultural studies lens, documenting the influence of this iconic foodstuff and analyzing its effects over historical and cultural boundaries.