With the adoption of agricultural practices came a conceptual shift in the way humans viewed the natural world and thus themselves and o/Others. Agri-culture, a form of cultural philosophy to which agricultural practices are inherent, posits firstly that humans are distinct from and superior to nature in all its forms. Within the category of nature exists further hierarchy; certain natural dimensions are perceived as being inherently inferior and thus are believed to need human control to reach their full potential or even to survive; other forms of nature are seen as inherently wild and thrillingly dangerous, though are considered inevitably tameable through human intervention. This perception of the natural world is mapped onto human existence and relations; as such, paradoxes and crises arise simply from the fact that humans are natural beings existing within and as nature. How can one be superior to or distinct from oneself? How does one relate to one’s own body or other bodies as well as nature itself if these are seen as inherently inferior, controllable or uncontrollable? I examine four unique directions that have been posed as a response to this paradox of agri-cultural existence: firstly, the transcendence of the animal/natural body via the regulation and control of certain bodily acts including eating and breastfeeding; secondly, the institutional denial of natural embodiment and existence; thirdly, the unwavering faith in human-created science as superior to perceived natural failings; and fourthly, above all, a fetishization of the natural world–which includes the maternal body–’s creative power. I argue that food justice, birth justice, women’s rights, feminist, and ecofeminist movements must reject the underlying agri-cultural philosophies that engender the mutually reinforcing oppressions of women, nature, food, and the body and instead must engage in praxis that is built upon and through notions of naturally embedded, embodied existences. Agri-cultural philosophy must be un-earthed; this is only possible through a complete and profound remembering of the unitive, natural existence from whence we came.
