I found it interesting to learn more about the Garinagu people because it is a group that I had never heard of, yet have a very rich history. What I found most fascinating about this module was that when I took ANTH210 last year (Eating Culture – highly recommend), the professor explained his past research in Papua New Guinea, and the preparation of cassava was exactly the same as what was described in the podcast lecture Tamara recorded! He provided images and videos, and from what I saw in the podcast lecture, all the tools and practices were the same. It is amazing to see how such geographically distinct and separate groups can have similar habits and foodways, especially when considering how complex the preparation of cassava is. There is such an intricate mix of different cultures in the Garinagu people, and I found it interesting that so many aspects of this show up, especially in the videos that were also assigned for this module. This ties into the strong family bonds in the coco tortilla video, which as the family said, were brought together by passing down food, cooking, dancing and just generally learning to form mearningful relationships through being united by a common point. Even with all the changes that come with immigration, this family decided that cooking was the best way to preserve their memories of home.

My peers’ definition of extractivism as a “pattern” of resource acquisition is astute, and I think in this case, the extractivism I think of when reflecting on Caribbean people and groups is the type of knowledge and cultural extractivism that happens in Northern countries such as Canada: we take bits and pieces of patois, food, and other cultural items and appropriate them, amalgamating these distinct things into something that can be grouped as “Caribbean.”

As an aside, I just finished reading Frying Plantain by Torontonian Zalika Reid-Benta, and I think that the themes we explored in this specific week (on immigration, preservation of culture through community and food, trying to associate multiple parts of yourself, etc.) were shown beautifully in this short story collection. The stories even go through moving between being Jamaican and Canadian, and food is often centered.