The following is an excerpt from a writing in Anthropology 330 which situates The Seed in a broader context.
Story
Humans exist in a natural world, and our interactions with one another and with our environment are mediated by our understandings of our place within it as determined by an overarching cultural or social framework. Stories passed on from generation to generation are vehicles through which that social and cultural framework is often established. In creating a sense of wholeness out of otherwise fragmented pieces of understanding, story gives meaning to our lives as social beings inextricably linked to the natural world. The story of The Seed is my own attempt to make meaning of our present engagement with the natural world. While it touches on many themes, this essay will draw primarily upon one; the food system as an expression of a society’s relationship with the natural world. It is intended to be an exploration of the stories which currently govern our interactions and mediate our relationship with one another and with our environment, and is built upon the foundation that such frameworks are integral to both environmental and social well being. It argues that accepting a global capitalist system as our social and cultural framework has contributed to the erosion of the social relations and cultural frameworks which mediate our relationships with the environment and with one another. This has made us vulnerable to the insatiability of an economic system whose guiding principle is profit.