My first reaction to the contemplative practices was distaste because I found them trivial. I still feel that way, though I do think they are premised upon a central point which I do find valuable. That premise is that it is valuable for one to imagine their own place within the larger industrial food network. I think that both the lectures and our readings speak to the necessity of that positioning because one must feel both empowered and interested in acting to disrupt the industrial food system, and more broadly hegemonic capitalism which inevitably chooses winners and losers, condemning those losers to death while sacrificing the health of many ‘winners’.
I have advanced my politics a lot this quarter. I am a debater for the UW and as such am exposed to a wide variety of leftist politics which shapes my everyday views. However, it was not until recently that I began to internalize the critiques of capitalism that I had been exposed to in theory. I believe this is do to the request put out to students to be contemplative, but I do not believe that the physical in class contemplative practices facilitate that goal. I believe some sort of introspection is necessary, though I cannot provide advice for how to do that for every person.
For me, reflecting on where food comes from has been powerful. Understanding that without even intending to I am participating in a capitalist enterprise has been a very fruitful intellectual undertaking. Specifically, grappling with the necessity of participation in capitalist structures to nourish myself and survive. But even so, I think that some broad sweeping revolution against capitalism is as impossible as it is to survive without being part of the system. That line of thought has focused my socialist politics.
I enjoy your commentary in viewing the practices as trivial. I have always felt that to a large degree, most practices such as the ones in class are well-intended, but can never actually produce the feeling or lived-experience that it takes to really make an impact on the way we live our everyday lives. In my other classes in the social sciences, I recognize the irony in my peers who will talk about the class material out loud during discussions, but will later make statements that indicate they do not realize their own stake in contributing to the overall system where capitalism, classism, and systemic racism prevail. Without truly understanding this stake and understanding what responsibilities we have in contributing to a solution (which may be demanding of our time and energy) it is difficult to come across a solution that will actually work to solve the problems that we oftentimes feel better about and absolved from personal responsibility from, just because we read about it in class. I really like how you stated the following:
“Specifically, grappling with the necessity of participation in capitalist structures to nourish myself and survive. But even so, I think that some broad sweeping revolution against capitalism is as impossible as it is to survive without being part of the system.”
I like how you point out that you still have to survive under a system of capitalism, because it is something that applies to all of us, but is not discussed nearly as often as I think it should it be. I think a large takeaway from this class is that food systems and nutrition is a hugely based on the prevalence of capitalism, and overall, we should feel personally responsible for learning as much as we can about capitalism and its impact in all other avenues of our life if it just so happens that it impacts something so benign-sounding as food. It seems you have capitalism’s impact in the back of your mind at all times, and I think that is so important for us to know.