Food, Memories, and Agri-Science in Action: Reconsidering Food Regimes in Asia

Co-sponsored with the Asia Center and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

This talk examines how agricultural practices, food crops, and related knowledge have influenced food regimes operated in Asia throughout periods of imperialism, the Cold War, and globalization. Three interventions are highlighted. First, the case of Ponlai rice (蓬萊米) demonstrates how farmers and agronomists navigated innovation in both colonial and postwar contexts. Second, the edamame case explores contemporary regional trade regimes and changing development agendas, while also reflecting agricultural legacies from the era of empire and the Cold War. Finally, a new emphasis on the geopolitical knowledge regime (地政學) of Japanese colonialism reveals how colonial geographical knowledge was adapted and transformed in envisioning the territorial expansion of the empire. Together, these perspectives advance our understanding of Asian food regimes as dynamic histories intertwined with science, knowledge, and power.