Sylvia Wynter's Dream

By Kandice Thompson

Conceptually, Afrofuturism easily sits in the theoretical realm and for my project I’m trying to find how Jamaicans have knowingly and unknowingly contributed to or been influenced by such radical schools of thought. Knowing this, I have to interrogate the factors that constitute a society. An essential component that is easily overlooked because of how close it is to us is food. I reached out to Educator and Blogger, Dayna-Lee Stewart, who specializes in nutrition and health counselling, to get her take on the current state of socio-economic factors and geo-politics that shape Jamaica’s and Black communities’ relationship with food.

This interview took place via Google Meets at 4am EST (Jamaica)/10am CET (Austria)

This transcript has redacted excess filler words for readability

Greetings everyone! My name is Kandice Thompson. I am undergraduate Literatures in English major at the University of the West Indies, Mona. Welcome to Jamaican Voices: Real and/or Imagined.

On this episode I’ll be looking at Afrofuturism and Food. I have the pleasure of speaking with Dayna-Lee Stewart, she’s a self-proclaimed Caribbean Foodie invested in food Therapy via her Instagram blog @nutrilee_ . She’s also a researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria.

Kandice: Thanks for joining me Dayna-Lee. How are you?

Dayna-Lee: I’m well thank you very much, how are you?

K: I’m doing good. So, I kind of know as a vegan foodie, and yeah that’s a well-earned title but I also think of you as healer. Like, your content is mostly mouth-watering, hearty, Caribbean vegan meals but your posts tend to have a message about the colonial influences in our attitude towards food and unlearning and re-thinking them, favouring a more holistic approach but that’s just me, tell me about what you do.

D: Yeah so as you said before I actually have an educational background. I come from the Education Sciences which is really just the study of learning… how people learn, studying how people develop, how you can access and help people through different forms of education such as therapy, counselling, formal school education and so on and so forth. That’s my theoretical background but I’ve always had I guess a helper syndrome in me so I started doing social work around six years ago or social care work I guess specifically and that’s kind of also the same time I discovered my passion and love for food and found a way to combine the two. As in, methods of using food and cooking to help people heal, to help them learn about themselves, to help then regain control of their lives, learn new things and so on, yeah.

K: Thanks for that. So, to give more context to frame the discussion a bit better, I’m looking at Afrofuturism under the umbrella of Jamaican Voices, to depart from the mainstream notions of Afrofuturism – you know the art and film – it seems like the concept is a bit abstract or hard to digest and I want to begin to de-mystify it for myself and any interested parties. I’m working from the perspective that Afrofuturism is a movement, an ideology concerned with the liberation and empowerment of Black Peoples and creating a society that is wholly informed and influenced by a Black consciousness. Given that food is an integral part of human existence I wanted to examine the link between the two so I got an expert or a food guide if you will. Do you have any notions or ideas of Afrofuturism yourself?

D: I think the concept of Afrofuturism is really cool. I haven’t worked a lot with it but I think it’s really interesting. I think it is something that I want to look into more in the future. I recently read a book called Rest is Resistance and it speaks a lot about how for black people to liberate themselves, we do need to take a step back, we do need to take time to rest, to dream, to imagine and a big part of that is also in Afrofuturism how the creativity that comes when people have the time to imagine, to dream, to think of a world, the way it could be is really essential in setting yourself free because if you’re not able to dream up those kind of pictures and ideals and just life for yourself, if you don’t have the time to do that, right then there’s no way- then you’re not striving for that kind of liberation and so [Hersey] says that rest in that essence is really crucial for black people because we’re being deprived of those opportunities to dream up a liberating future for ourselves. I think in that context, you know where I think my work is really important is community care because I think a really important part of you know stepping back and taking time for yourself is also having a community around you that allows you to do that. A community that watches out for you, a community that supports and just kind of sits with you during the process allows you to take a step back and do those things. So for me, with my work, I feel like I really try to communicate to people you know that the healing journey isn’t one you can embark on alone, that whenever we wanna liberate ourselves, whenever we wanna heal and make changes it never be an alone thing. You know, no man is an island and we do need each other, holding each other accountable and supporting each other and kind of just lending a hand along the way.

K: What was the title of that book again?

D: Rest is Resistance

K: Speaking of background, tell me a bit about yourself. How do you identify in regards to culture or nationality?

D: Um, I foremost identify as a Black woman. Um, I am Jamaican but I left Jamaica at the age of four…five? So I grew up in Germany and then studied in Austria so I’ve mainly been socialized around central Europe. And yeah I mean Iive or I’ve lived in places where the Black community isn’t very big compared to maybe New York or London or so. So, you do really have to find places where you can…where you can flourish, where you can develop, where you can be yourself, where you can find people who think like you, you know just like your tribe and I feel like that’s kind of a challenge for a lot of people, a lot of Black people who um, who live here as well and for that reason I’m really glad that meanwhile I’m able to work mainly with um Black women um just helping them on that path as well.

K: I know you have a background in post-colonial research. How do you the reconcile the relationship between black communities and food then versus now?

D: I kind of discovered my interest for post-colonial studies…probably, I’d say five years ago or so. So, I try in my education work but also when it comes to social care and health, to always look at things through a post-colonial or neo-colonial lens and so what I’ve discovered with food  over the years is the way that our diets have changed just because of the influence of colonialism and capitalism and imperialism in so many regions but also the way that our body images are shaped, the way that certain foods are shaped, the way that food trends and patterns develop. It always tends to be from a White Eurocentric lens, and it actually impacts all parts of the world. For example, in West African cultures, you’ll see how meat has become kind of a symbolism of luxure, high social standing where precolonial meat was not something you were eating every day, it was something special! and it’s become now something that marks a certain class in society. Of course that plays into the whole topic of animal factory farming and the exploration of animals and it’s all kind of just a vicious cycle because a a lot of cultures, especially cultures that are outside of a Eurocentric lens just tend to take on trends that you see happening in the white world even if it’s to their disadvantage.

K: Where would you position Jamaican specially, like our cuisine, in an Afrofuturistic thought space. Are we trending towards sustainably healthy practices? What have you noticed?

D: I feel like Jamaica’s kinda difficult because it’s such a blend and mix of so many influences and cultures. I mean I do love that Jamaica is still an island and I feel like you know that’s the thing- that’s like the biggest advantage that they do have that at the end of the day they have… or we have amazing agricultural opportunities, we have good land and we have the opportunity, in essence, to be self- sustainant. But obviously because of different relationships, especially agriculturally, that there are between America and other countries, that’s just not the case. For me, whenever I’m in Jamaica, I obviously just navigate towards Ital food which works really well for me, and the culture is still ingrained very deeply in Jamaica. At the same time, you drive past all the KFCs and see twenty cars lined up. So there is kind of a disconnect I feel. I feel like there are still a lot of people who are very conscious about you know, indigenous and traditional roots of Jamaican food that do have there roots in, for example, West African cuisine, but I feel like that knowledge isn’t really uh focused enough in my opinion and a lot of people aren’t really aware of it either you know obviously because of just historical backgrounds, Jamaican people do tend to be quite disconnected from their pre-colonial roots and I think that disconnect is one of the main factors in how you want to move forward in the future. To develop or acknowledge problems, issues, challenges it is necessary to know where things went wrong in the past. So I feel like there is a lot of work, a lot of educational work that still needs to be done when it comes to the topic of colonialism, of the way that we take care of our bodies and not just copying things that are done in the West. For example, in the supermarkets, in Jamaica the foods that they’re selling are American foods but then we know that the foods that are sold in America have ingredients that are banned in pretty much the rest of the world because scientists have come to the conclusion that they are actually quite detrimental for our health. But then those are the same products that people are buying off the shelves in big Jamaican supermarkets and those supermarkets at the same time are owned by huge Aran companies. So yeah it’s obviously a complicated topic and I think what really is missing is awareness and there just aren’t actually a lot of people who have the privilege and the time and the emotional capacities to deal with these kinds of topics.

K: Looking at your theoretical background in education, how does digital media factor in, or influence your pedagogical strategies? What are your preferred tools or tech?

D: The only thing I really use is social media. To get messages out, to connect with people, to reach people. Apart from that, my work is very people-centered, like the work that I do it’s face to face. I have to be able to look you in the eyes, I have to see how you’re feeling, I have to see what you need. So it’s not that central in my work personally. I am very… not excited you know, but somehow cautious and interested to see how things develop in those sectors of work in the future.

K: You mentioned earlier how growing up in Germany, you were socialized in Eurocentric [region]. How does Jamaican food or Jamaican cuisine fare in the diaspora? I imagine you guys have to work with what’s local, maybe substitute when you’re feeling for a Jamaican dish. Is there a strong Jamaican community or presence?

D: In Berlin for example, there is a community and there are people here as well but there isn’t like a big community. It’s just not one of the biggest Black diasporas at all. The Caribbean community just tend to navigate to other areas of Europe, not central Europe specifically/ Foodwise it’s not really an issue because all over Europe especially central Europe, you have a lot of supermarkets where you can find pretty much everything you need, usually supermarkets that are run by Indians. So, you know, I can drive about fifteen minutes to the next uh Indian supermarket and I can get ackee, I can get breadfruit, I can get okra. But obviously it’s not fresh food, it’s not an ackee that you just picked from your tree. So it’s different, but we make do with what we have and I am very grateful that I have access to these things that when I have these cravings that I can quench them. I think those things are essential in these kinds of regions because people from all kinds of diasporas, whether it’s different Asian communities or different African or South American, these kinds of food outlets are important for them to keep in contact with their culture and to have that source.

K: Lastly, in your travels, what cuisine would you say reminds you of ours the most?

D: Mmh, when I was in the Dominican Republic, they had a lot of foods that reminded me of Jamaican food. They eat like a…a kind of saltfish then yam kind of dish for breakfast. In Ghana, I saw some things that reminded me as well, like callaloo-type dishes. Also, they have a really extensive uh…like porridge selection so that definitely reminded me of Jamaica. Mmh, I think those are the two main ones I mean I haven’t travelled that much in African diasporas or African countries to be fair, so that’s what I would say.

K: So if you had to choose, who’s coming out on top?

D: Out of the two or with Jamaican as well?

K: With Jamaica yeah.

D: Oh no it’s Jamaica all the way (Laughs)

K: That was the true test (Laughs) Alright, thank you so much for taking the time out to chat with me and share. That’s it for this episode, [Dayna-Lee], you gave us a lot to consider so thanks again for sharing. You can find Dayna-Lee on instagram at nutrilee_ . Thanks for listening.