Dissertation
The Meaning of Rye
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006533
Abstract
Positive scientific literature on the agronomical characteristics of rye and the health implications of ingesting rye abounds. To better understand why people choose to engage with certain crops and not others, scientific facts do not always suffice. It is helpful to have some insights into the practical knowledge that people possess and that might guide their action. Rye as a food crop necessitates the coming together of people with different skillsets and tools to make it from the seed depositories to people’s tables. Positioned at the intersection of agriculture and anthropology, this dissertation investigates the meaning of rye for the different actors who have chosen to engage with it. In-depth interviews with breeders, farmers, millers, bakers, eaters and learners as well as numerous farm, mill and bakery visits in the U.S., UK and Estonia combined with digital ethnography and field and baking trials inform the discussion. This dissertation attends to people’s rye-related ideas and opinions and looks at how that knowledge informs and is informed by action. The emphasis is on the contextualization of knowledge and the interconnectedness of different actors through rye, whilst being attentive to the fluid materiality of rye. Drawing on multi-species ethnography theories, the concept of assemblage is applied in explaining how the meaning of rye comes into being through the joint yet separate action of individuals. These observations about the motivations of different actors could be valuable in contemplating the possibility of change in our food system and moving the focus away from the global to the local where the connections between the different actors are both more accessible and more meaningful. It is the very marginality of rye in the U.S. food system that makes it a suitable conceptual as well as a practical tool for reconsidering priorities in food production and envisioning a different way of growing, processing and utilizing grains that is focused on relationality and connectedness.
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Details
- Title
- The Meaning of Rye
- Creators
- Laura Valli
- Contributors
- Stephen S Jones (Chair)Bethany F Econopouly (Committee Member)Heather Estrada (Committee Member)Jessica Goldberger (Committee Member)Kevin M Murphy (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Crop and Soil Sciences, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 260
- Identifiers
- 99901121131301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation