From “poor man’s food” to “nutri-cereals”: emergence of a new millet assemblage in Odisha, India

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Roland Hardenberg
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 445737126

In recent decades, disciplines such as agronomy, plant sciences, food science technology, and different natural sciences have produced detailed knowledge about millets, especially about their health attributes, nutritional composition, growth conditions and environmental qualities. This knowledge had an immense impact on the development of new policies for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) such as “zero hunger”, “good health and well-being”, “responsible consumption and production” and “climate action”. Because of their draught resistance, millets have come to be recognised as highly relevant for our planet’s water security and future ecology. In India, these policies are implemented by a myriad of state institutions and non-governmental organisations which target various communities. What effects do these policies, and the knowledge on which they are based, have for those people who produce, distribute and consume millets? The proposed project takes up this question and applies it to a concrete case in Odisha, India, where international food policies have an immense impact on local practices, valuations and forms of knowledge. The research focusses on the changing valuation and use of millets in Odisha. Indian state organizations and NGOs use this plural form (“millets”) to refer to various plants such as sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, Kodo millet, foxtail millet or small millet. The people who produce, distribute and consume these plants and their grains often use different categories in their own languages. It is therefore necessary to investigate the way in which these categories of crops are embedded into the fabric of social life. In this study, the focus is specifically on people who belong to three (not always clearly identifiable) social categories and live in different parts of Odisha: urban elites, rural farmers and mountain dwellers. Three field studies are designed in order to understand how people in these three settings define the ontological status of millets, what knowledge they have about millets, how they engage with the plants and their products, which material culture they use, what linkages exist between millets and social identities and to which policies they react. The idea is that millets are part of assemblages, i.e. complex interrelations between plants, soils, climate, human beings, technologies, regimes of knowledge and systems of meaning.These millet assemblages are studied from an anthropological point of view in combination with data and insights derived from ethno-archaeobotany. The project compares the results of the three field studies in order to understand possible links and connections between the three settings. The hypothesis is that due to the recent millet policies a new millet assemblage is emerging that connects people across regions and social divisions without overcoming the general differences between two “food-world-views”: food security and food sovereignty.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Peter Berger; Professor Dr. René Cappers