Visual essays

How colonialism disrupted and continues to disrupt people’s relationship with plants

By: Claire Rousell and Brittany Kesselman

16 / October / 2024

Abstract

Our graphic grew out of a project called ‘Decolonising food for health and sustainability’ in Johannesburg, South Africa. The project recognised that being able to grow the indigenous plants that people traditionally used for food and medicine could help communities to enjoy greater food sovereignty and more control over their own health. The graphic seeks to tell the complex story of the historical and ongoing negative impacts of colonialism in a simple and powerful way. The accompanying text explains some of the ways colonialism disrupted Indigenous people’s relationship with plants, and how these processes and power relations continue to underpin South Africa’s unhealthy and unsustainable food system.

This graphic was created as part of the project, ‘Decolonising food for health and sustainability,’ implemented in Johannesburg, South Africa. Being able to grow the indigenous plants traditionally used for food and medicine could help communities to enjoy greater food sovereignty and more control over their health. Therefore, the project sought to link people who have knowledge regarding the collection, cultivation and use of indigenous plants for food and medicine with communities struggling with food insecurity and poor health. One outcome of the project was the publication, in print and online, of a booklet containing this graphic. It was released in English and three other South African languages, isiZulu, Setswana and Tshivenda.

The graphic seeks to tell the complex story of the historical and ongoing negative impacts of colonialism on Indigenous people’s relationship with plants in a simple and powerful way. The patterns of capitalist, racial, patriarchal power put in place under colonialism continue to underpin.