Volume 12, Issue 1, 2015
Allegories of Imperialism: Barbarians and World Cultures
Simon C. Estok
Pages 221-232
Bull and Barbarity, Feeding the World
This paper argues that food security is a very important topic in cosmopolitanism, one that has simply not received the kind of attention that it should receive.
The paper reveals how global food monopolies destroy possibilities for national self-sufficiency, raises questions about neo-nationalism in an age of terror,
and exposes the insidious and invidious corporate neo-imperialism that attends seed patenting. “Food, eating, and ethics” as a topic is rarely seen as a proper or important part of discussions about “the new cosmopolitanism,” let alone as part of literary discussions. This paper examines the violence and barbarity of transnational corporations such as Monsanto. I show what happens in the global supermarket and how lives and livelihoods are at stake, how the new corporate imperialism swallows up traditions and histories, and how dangerous food has become.