203
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-21
18
The Art of Food Rituals as a
Practice in Sympoiethics
Miche Fabre Lewin and Flora Gathorne-Hardy
Coventry University
INHABITING SYMPOIESIS
In a humble gesture of touching the soil with the fingers of his right hand, Buddha shows his allegiance to the Earth as his authority, reminding us that our human bodies are in a vital and everyday
relationship with the body of the planet. His gesture is in resistance to Mara’s temptations to draw him
into the conditioned existence of separation, delusion and desire and an expression of his understanding that the Earth is his witness ( Thomas, 2000). This sacred image of the Buddha with his own body
in connection with the Earth grounds ethical conduct as part of whole-bodied consciousness. Our
humanity flourishes as part of the animate and interconnected systems of the living Earth where we
are in an on-going entanglement with each other and the matter of all existence ( Abram, 2010; Barad,
2012; Gablik, 1992; Haraway, 2016; Ho, 2008; Laszlo, 1996; Weiwei, 2020). Addressing and engaging in social and environmental justice is an invitation for us to notice and practice our humanhood
as an embodied and physical experience in relationship with the other- than-human world ( Roszak
1977). Traditional knowledge systems and ancient spiritual wisdoms recognise this embodied, participatory worldview and the unifying consciousness where, in kinship with Gaia, ‘ we participate in
the intimacy of all things with each other’ ( Berry, 2006: 137). This is a poetic ecology that enables
our fragmented selves ‘ to find our place in the grand whole again’ ( Weber, 2019: 3) ( Figure 18.1).
For, while we as living creatures are bounded as independent, autopoietic organisms with the capacity to self-reproduce and cohere living processes ( Maturana and Varela, 1980), we also co-exist within
the interdependence of ecosystems with synergistic behaviour of ‘ linkages, feedback, cooperation’
( Dempster, 2000: 4). Complementing the concept of autopoiesis, biologist Beth Dempster conceived the
term ‘ sympoiesis’ to describe the inherently interactive and cooperative behaviour of living systems –
sym meaning with, or together, and poiesis to make, create or produce ( ibid). In adopting a sympoietic
sensibility, the separation between nature and culture dissolves and we as humans become active, sensing organisms within the dynamic flow of a non-heirarchical and interconnected cosmology.
Sympoiesis diffracts with current feminist, decolonial and environmental narratives of power
by re-orienting us towards a worldview based on life-affirming encounters between our personhood, each other and the habitats of the animist world. Donna Haraway speaks of naturecultural
CONTENTS
Inhabiting Sympoiesis ....................................................................................................................203
Re-Cognising Ritual.......................................................................................................................204
Knowing Through Food Rituals .....................................................................................................205
Introducing FieldTable ...................................................................................................................206
Experiencing FieldTable ................................................................................................................208
Cultivating Sympoiethics ............................................................................................................... 215
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 217
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 217
References ...................................................................................................................................... 217
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-21
18
The Art of Food Rituals as a
Practice in Sympoiethics
Miche Fabre Lewin and Flora Gathorne-Hardy
Coventry University
INHABITING SYMPOIESIS
In a humble gesture of touching the soil with the fingers of his right hand, Buddha shows his allegiance to the Earth as his authority, reminding us that our human bodies are in a vital and everyday
relationship with the body of the planet. His gesture is in resistance to Mara’s temptations to draw him
into the conditioned existence of separation, delusion and desire and an expression of his understanding that the Earth is his witness ( Thomas, 2000). This sacred image of the Buddha with his own body
in connection with the Earth grounds ethical conduct as part of whole-bodied consciousness. Our
humanity flourishes as part of the animate and interconnected systems of the living Earth where we
are in an on-going entanglement with each other and the matter of all existence ( Abram, 2010; Barad,
2012; Gablik, 1992; Haraway, 2016; Ho, 2008; Laszlo, 1996; Weiwei, 2020). Addressing and engaging in social and environmental justice is an invitation for us to notice and practice our humanhood
as an embodied and physical experience in relationship with the other- than-human world ( Roszak
1977). Traditional knowledge systems and ancient spiritual wisdoms recognise this embodied, participatory worldview and the unifying consciousness where, in kinship with Gaia, ‘ we participate in
the intimacy of all things with each other’ ( Berry, 2006: 137). This is a poetic ecology that enables
our fragmented selves ‘ to find our place in the grand whole again’ ( Weber, 2019: 3) ( Figure 18.1).
For, while we as living creatures are bounded as independent, autopoietic organisms with the capacity to self-reproduce and cohere living processes ( Maturana and Varela, 1980), we also co-exist within
the interdependence of ecosystems with synergistic behaviour of ‘ linkages, feedback, cooperation’
( Dempster, 2000: 4). Complementing the concept of autopoiesis, biologist Beth Dempster conceived the
term ‘ sympoiesis’ to describe the inherently interactive and cooperative behaviour of living systems –
sym meaning with, or together, and poiesis to make, create or produce ( ibid). In adopting a sympoietic
sensibility, the separation between nature and culture dissolves and we as humans become active, sensing organisms within the dynamic flow of a non-heirarchical and interconnected cosmology.
Sympoiesis diffracts with current feminist, decolonial and environmental narratives of power
by re-orienting us towards a worldview based on life-affirming encounters between our personhood, each other and the habitats of the animist world. Donna Haraway speaks of naturecultural
CONTENTS
Inhabiting Sympoiesis ....................................................................................................................203
Re-Cognising Ritual.......................................................................................................................204
Knowing Through Food Rituals .....................................................................................................205
Introducing FieldTable ...................................................................................................................206
Experiencing FieldTable ................................................................................................................208
Cultivating Sympoiethics ............................................................................................................... 215
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 217
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 217
References ...................................................................................................................................... 217