The Garden in the Machine: Homesteading, Local Foodways, and Agriculture in York, Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Kinsley, Jamie
- Graduate Program:
- American Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 03, 2020
- Committee Members:
- John Rogers Haddad, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Anthony Bak Buccitelli, Committee Member
Charles David Kupfer, Committee Member
John Rogers Haddad, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Shirley Elizabeth Clark, Outside Member
Anne Ayer Verplanck, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Foodways
Homesteading
agriculture
environmentalism
folklore
food
garden
gardening
vegetables
crops
ethnography
libertarian
communitarian
self-sufficient
York County
Pennsylvania
community gardens
food desert
farm
farmers
chicken
plants
small-scale farming
industrialization
urbanization - Abstract:
- Across the United States, many Americans make the remarkable decision to convert the home into a locus of small-scale farming. They grow their own vegetables, raise animals for slaughter, and keep chickens for eggs. We call these people homesteaders. Eating is a universal act, but producing food is not. Why are people turning to agriculture when they enjoy year-round access to plentiful and affordable food in grocery stores? This dissertation answers this question by applying the ethnographic method and foodways theory to the homesteaders of York County, Pennsylvania, both past and present. It finds that homesteaders, as a group, are not animated by a single cause or philosophy. That being said, we can identify several trends within the diverse homesteading movement. Some reorganize their relationship with nature by cultivating an oasis of simplicity in an increasingly industrialized, commodified, and urbanized world. Others, embodying what we may call a “libertarian mindset,” follow a philosophy of self-sufficiency that echoes the rugged individualism of the nineteenth century. Still others are driven by the opposite impulse – from retreat to reform. These “communitarian” homesteaders view food production as a way to find friends, build community, and address economic and racial inequalities. Homesteading serves as an expression of their ability to protect themselves and others by integrating the garden and the machine and dissolving the country/ city divide into a perceived sphere of safety. The variety of motivations notwithstanding, this dissertation argues that all homesteaders derive meaning, agency, and purpose in a confusing modern world.