Origin Stories, Ethics, and Identity: Navigating Cultural Repertoires and Connections to Nature among Foragers in Oklahoma

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Environmental Spaces, Places, and Beliefs

Abstract

Foragers interact intimately with nature in the process of gathering wild foods and/or medicinal plants. They not only demonstrate an adherence to a set of ethics, but also actively participate in the creation of a foraging identity. To better understand why foragers continue to engage in gathering practices, we explore how foragers throughout Oklahoma learn about foraging practices and obtain relevant knowledge. We ground our work in literatures addressing identity and the natural environment, as well as extant research conceptualizing norms among foragers to ask: What are the origin stories of foragers? Why do foragers engage in gathering practices and how do these practices help shape their foraging identity? We apply concepts such as life stories and cultural repertoires to consider the ways in which participants’ narration of their foraging origins and reasons result in the creation of a foraging identity based on personal ethics, values, and beliefs, informed by access to particular knowledge sets. Study participants include adults that forage and/or wildcraft in the state of Oklahoma with at least six months of foraging experience. Data includes twenty-eight qualitative semi-structured interviews and participant observation of foraging spaces and practices. Findings reveal that variation exists in terms of foraging origins and chosen foraging identities. While participants do not align with discrete categories of identification, some patterns of similarity persist regarding the meanings derived from the process of foraging and the deep connection with place and nature fostered while procuring wild edibles. Ultimately, such connections with nature come to inform the ethics foragers rely on as they engage with their natural surroundings along with the choices made relating to foodways and food practices. We contribute to a growing body of research attending to the practice of foraging in current contexts as well as literature on identity and the natural environment.

Authors

• Olivia Megean Fleming, Transylvania University

• Tamara L. Mix, Oklahoma State University